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A   SKETCH 


OF     THE 


LIFE  AND  EDUCATIONAL  LABORS 


OF 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY,  D.l)., 


LATE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UKI   ERSITY  OF  NASHVILLE. 


BY  LEROY  J.  HALSEY,  D.  D., 

FKOFESSOE   IX   THEOLOGICAL   SEMIXAKY   OF   THE   KORTH-TVEST,   AUTHOH   OF    LITERARY 
ATTEACTIOXS   OF   THE   BIBLE,    ETC. 


REPUBLISHED 
FROM  BxiRNAJRD'S  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  EDUCATION 

FOR    SEPTEMBER, 

18  5  9. 


PKE86   OF    WILLIAMS.    -WILEY    &    TLRSEK.    152    ASYLIM-ST..    IIARTFOBD.   rONX. 


Luu.  »uv  of  Nashville  in  1836,  ana  <^evoted  hiu.- 
self  to  the  study  of  languages.  »-^;^.^'  "»f 'V   -  iv-    ■ 

Encvclo-Lexicon  ot  the  >^nS  i-li  xV"\l  .f,  'e^unbei- 
1859  he  received  the  degree  ot  LL.  \\-  "'^^;;!  V,j, 
land  university.-Another   bon,   J  ol  u    «U»i^  ; 

physician  ^^^^^^^  F  i:£'lh^(^\S, 
Sfh;  m^It  S;e  m^i^ia^^partmentof  the  Uni- 
vSsity  of  pSinsvlvarua.     He  was  appmntcd  pro-  LL  Y  . 

lessor  of  chemist  T  in  the  University  ot  Nashvil  e  

KlSTO  and  held  that  chair  until  1878  meanwhile 
-^uS- the  medical  departments  of  that  univer-  1^^,^  ^ ^-^  ^  ^^^^  president  of 

fSr^i^'^'^^?^^^^^^  ^"^^^  i^^  ^^"^''  '^^-^  ^""^  ^''^  ■ 
unarmed  during  the  ciiiTvvar ;  and  also  was  pro-  Lpreciated  at  ench  of  those 
^SofdiemMrymth.  medical depax^me^^  of  God,  he 


he  providence  of  God,  he 
is  this  true  of  Nashville, 
may  be  said  to  have  been 
re,  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
m  the  cause  of  education, 
lie  South  West.  Whether 
e  began  his  labors  in  Ten- 
rare  qualifications  for  the 
Inch  a  man,  in  such  a  cause, 


UrTver  itfof  Tennessee  in  1880-2      He  was  a  rn^^ 
ber  of  the  Nashville  board  of  edpition  m  -TH5 

-'60    held   the   otHce   of   ^^^^^^^^f^^ 

V.     1,   i,i  iviHf!    nnd  was   secretary  oi   tne  suul 

f  ^°'i^    f  bTlJ.tum  in  IST.V'ST.     "He  was  health 

S;;S!rfih^Ss^sr:hS?»?i;s 

been^Ltivey  connected  with  other  scientific  so- 
beeii  dCLivc  ^y  received  the  degree  of  D.  D. 

?rorPrinceton      He  Ss  contributefl  articles  on 
Pnmberland  Presbyterian  history  to  the  "  l^uartei-  g^j^^  ^         j^jg  generation. 

"'JXr  nf  Sv       "£"•  The  s«or,d  ami  „„,,(;„„,     „e  eve-  looted 

if "  f Sthe'  '|£5i^:'"  "'*  - 1  -»^'-'  -  -'"■  ""^^•' 

Sd  of  Health"  (TB5DTWei^a-ired  by  him,  also  L^.j^j^h  crowned  his  efforts, 
?The  Military  Annals  of  Tennessee,  Confederate  |^^,,,^^^^,.^  ^,  ^,^„  ^,^^  ^^^, 
^first  series,  Nashville,  1886).  icns- 

TINFN  .Tames,  poet,  b.  in  Scotland  m  1808, 
d  in  New  York  Sty,  20  Nov.,  1873.  He  emigrated 
tVthe  United  States,  and  for  many  years  earned 
on  a  llr^^rbookindiW  establishment  inNe^^^^^^^^ 
^ftv  Uater  he  spent  some  years  m  California,  wheie 
heU  ^n  active^member  of  the  Scottish  l-^v^l^nt 
societies.  His  last  years  were  passed  m  ^^  J^^^ 
Sv  He  contributed  poems,  mostly  m  thf^cotch 
Sect,  to  the  "  Knickerbocker  Magazine  and^^^^^ 
"  Scottish   American   Journal      and   otnei    nt|| 

p^^ers  and  published  -  ^^^^^f  XrToems'' (S  w 
of  "  Songs  ot  the  Seasons  and  other  Poe'ns  ( ^  ew 
York  1852)  A  large  collection  ot  his  _/oeiicai 
S^^S^ritings^SanFrancisco^l86o  was  Al- 
lowed by  a  smaller  one  (New  '^'^,%^^^^)' 
published  also  "The  Golden  Gate     (lb6. ) 

LINGAN,    James  Maecubin,    soldiei     b.    m 
Mai'w  about  1752 ;    d.  i"  ^..-re    gd^;^^^ 
.July,  1812.   He  was  employed  in  a  stoie  in  Gem   e 
town,  U.C,  when  at  the  begmmng  of  th^  Rc^olu 
tion  he  obtained  a  commission  m  the  a  m>.     ue 
fought  at  Long   Island,   York   1^1'}"^'  i^^^^  ^ 
Wasiiington.  where  he  was  take^i  P"«o^^«,^Xpame 
fined  in  a  prison-ship.     After  the  war  1  c  beca^nt 
cUector  of  the  port  of  Georgetown  and,  as  lejs 
given   the   title  of   "general"   P™\"1  J^  "«tamea 
this  rank  in  the  militia.     He  was  l^i^v  the  mob 
more  iail,  where  he  had  taken  refuge,  bv  tjie  mob 
that  destroyed  the  office  of  ^^  ^f^'^r':^^^^];^ 
in-  been  one  of  those  who  rallied  to  the  suppoit  ot 
the  editor.     (See  Hanson.  A  t,^,x  *  ndkr  C.) 


educators  of  our  age  and 

rive  some  account  of  him 

ibor — to  tell  of  his  plans, 

1  educator  of  youth.     In 

of  his  character,  both  as 

what  we  have  to  say  of 

iphical  sketch,  which  we 

American  PulpitP 

1786,  near  Morristown, 
ctraction ;  the  Lindsleys 
of  Morristown,  and  in- 
youth  was  spent  in  his 
n  his  thirteenth  year  he 
ley,  of  that  place,  with 
entered  the  junior  class 
302,  and  was  graduated 


PRE86   OK    WII.I.I 


LINDSEY,  Wii; :  I -e  county, 

Va  4  Sept  l^oJ.  He  received  an  education  in 
tlH«"sclio<)ls'"of  his  nutive  place,  and  in  1854  re- 
moved to  Jlickman  county,  Ky.,  where  he  taught, 
studied  hiw.  and  \vas  admitted  to  practice  in  18o». 
Vt  tlie  openiuir  of  the  civil  war  he  entered  the 
(•onfoderate  annv  as  lieutenant,  and  was  soon 
made  captain  in  'tlie  2:2d  Tennessee  infantry.  He 
served  as  stalf-olTieer  with  Gen.  Buford  and  Gen. 
Lvon,  and  remained  with  the  2d  Kentucky  brigade 
until  paroled  as  a  prisoner  of  war  early  in  1865,  at 
Columbus,  Miss.  At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  re; 
turned  to  Clinton,  Ky.,  resumed  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in 
18()7.  In  1870  he  was  chosen  to  the  highest  judi- 
cial bench  in  the  state,  and  in  September,  1876,  he 
became  chief  justice  of  Kentucky,  leaving  the 
bench  two  years  afterward  with  a  high  reputation. 
He  declined  a  renomination,  and  has  since  followed 
the  profession  of  law  at  Frankfort. 

LiNDSLEY,  PliiUp,  educator,  b.  in Morristown, 
N.  J.,  21  Dec,  1786 ;  d.  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  25  May, 
1855.'  He  was  graduated  at  Princeton  in  1804, 
and  after  teaching  he  was  appointed  in  1807  tutor 
in  Latin  and  Greek  at  Princeton.  Meanwhile  he 
studied  theology, 
and  was  licensed 
to  preach  in  April, 
1810.  In  1812 
he  returned  to 
Princeton,  after 
preaching  in  va- 
rious places,  as 
senior  tutor.  He 
was  made  profes- 
sor of  languages 
in  181;^,  ami  at 
the  same  time  be- 
came secretary  of 
the  board  of  trus- 
tees. In  1817 
he  was  elected 
vice-president  of 
Princeton,  and, 
after  the  resigna- 
tion of  Ashbel 
(irreen  in  1822,  he 
was  for  one  year 
acting  president,  but  in  the  succeeding  year  was 
chosen  president  of  Cumberland  college  (now  Uni- 
versity of  Nashville),  and  also  of  Princeton,  both  of 
which  he  decrfned  ;  but  later  he  was  again  offered 
the  presidency  of  Cumberland.  He  was  finally  in- 
duced to  visit  Nashville,  and  the  result  of  his  trip 
was  his  acceptance  of  the  office  in  1824.  He  con- 
tinued his  relations  with  that  college  until  1850, 
when  he  accepted  the  professorship  of  archseology 
and  church  polity  in  the  Presbyterian  theological 
seminary  in  New  Albany,  Ind.,  which  he  held  until 
185:5.  Meanwhile  he  declined  the  presidency  of 
numerous  colleges.  He  was  chosen  moderator  in 
1834  of  the  genei-al  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  held  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  1855  commis- 
sioner of  the  presbytery  to  the  general  assembly  in 
Nashville.  In  1825  he  received  the  degree  of  D.  I), 
from  Dickinson  college.  His  publications,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  l)accalaureate  addresses  and  occasion- 
al sermons,  were  collected  by  Leroy  J.  Halsey,  and 
published  as  "  Dr.  Lindsley's  Complete  Works  and 
a  Biography"  (3  vols.,  Philadelphia,  1868).  See 
also  "  A  Sketch  of  the  Life  and  Educational  La- 
bors of  Philip  Lindslev,"  by  Leroy  J.  Halsey  (Hart-" 
ford,  1859). — His  son,  Nathaniel  Lawrence,  edu- 
cator, b.  in  Princeton,  N.  J.,  11  Sept.,  1816;  d.  near 
Lebanon,  Tenn..  10  Oct.,  1868,  was  graduated  at  the 


PHILIP    LINDSLEY. 

The  eminent  services  of  Philip  Lindsle}-,  D,  D.,  late  president  of 
the  University  of  Nashville,  as  an  educator  of  youth,  have  been  widely 
known  in  our  countiy,  and  most  highly  appreciated  at  each  of  those 
points  or-  centers  of  influence  where,  in  the  providence  of  God,  he 
was  successively  called  to  labor.  Especially  is  this  true  of  Nashville, 
and  the  surrounding  region,  in  whicli  lie  may  be  said  to  have  been 
the  pioneer  of  classical  learning,  and  where,  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, he  exerted  a  controlling  influence  upon  the  cause  of  education, 
not  only  in  Tennessee,  but  through  the  whole  South  West.  Whether 
we  consider  the  auspicious  time  at  which  he  began  his  labors  in  Ten- 
nessee, their  long  continuance,  or  his  own  rare  qualifications  for  the 
work,  it  could  not  be  otherwise  than  that  such  a  man,  in  such  a  cause, 
should  make  a  deep  and  permanent  impression  upon  his  generation. 
lie  seems  from  an  early  period  to  have  regarded  himself  as  set  apart 
to  the  cause  of  the  higher  or  more  liberal  education.  He  ever  looked 
upon  it  as  the  great  work  of  his  life.  The  steadfast  zeal  with  which 
he  pursued  it,  and  the  distinguished  success  which  crowned  his  eftorts, 
entitle  him  to  a  place  among  the  foremost  educators  of  our  age  and 
country.  And  it  is  our  present  purpose  to  give  some  account  of  him 
and  his  work  in  this  his  chosen  field  of  labor — to  tell  of  his  plans, 
purposes,  opinions,  trialsj  and  triumphs,  as  an  educator  of  youth.  In 
order,  however,  to  form  some  just  conception  of  his  character,  both  as 
a  man  and  a  minister,  we  .shall  first  preface  what  we  have  to  say  of 
him  as  an  educator  with  the  following  biographical  sketch,  which  we 
abridge  from  Dr.  Sprague's  "  Annah  of  (he  American  Pidpit.'^ 

I.       OUTLINE    OF    HIS    LIFE. 

Philip  Lindsley  was  born  December  21st,  1786,  near  Morristown, 
N.J.  His  parents  were  both  of  English  extraction;  the  Lindsleys 
and  Condicts  being  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Morristown,  and  in- 
fluential Whigs  of  the  Revolution.  His  early  youth  was  spent  in  his 
father's  family,  at  Basking  Ridge,  N.  J.,  and  in  his  thirteenth  year  he 
entered  the  academy  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Finley,  of  that  place,  with 
whom  he  continued  nearly  three  years.  He  entered  the  junior  class 
of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  November,  1802,  and  was  graduated 

550538 


8  PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 

in  September,  1804.  After  graduating  he  became  an  assistant 
teacher,  first  in  Mr,  Stevenson's  school  at  Morristown,  and  then  in  Mr. 
Finley's  at  Basking  Ridge.  He  resigned  his  phxce  with  the  latter  in 
1807,  and  about  the  same  time  became  a  member  of  Mr.  Finley's 
church,  and  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  under  the  care  of  presby- 
tery. He  was  then  for  two  years  Latin  and  Greek  tutor  in  the  col- 
lege at  Princeton,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  theology, 
chiefly  under  the  direction  of  its  president.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope 
Smith.  On  the  24th  of  April,  1810,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the 
gospel  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick. 

Continuing  his  theological  studies  during  the  next  two  years,  and 
also  preaching  a  while  at  Newtown,  L.  I.,  where  he  declined  overtures 
for  a  settlement,  he  made  an  excursion  into  Virginia,  and  afterward 
to  New  England,  and  in  November,  1812,  returned  to  Princeton,  in 
the  capacity  of  senior  tutor  in  the  college.  In  1813  he  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  tutorship  to  the  professorship  of  languages,  and  at 
the  same  time  was  chosen  secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees.  He 
also  held  the  offices  of  librarian  and  inspector  of  the  college  during 
his  connection  with  the  institution.  In  October  of  this  year  he  was 
married  to  Margaret  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Nathaniel  Law- 
rence, attorney-general  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

In  1817  he  was  twice  chosen  president  of  Transylvania  University, 
Kentucky,  but  in  both  instances  declined.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
ordained,  sine  titulo,  by  the  presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  and  was 
also  elected  vice-president  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  In  1822, 
after  Dr.  Green's  resignation,  he  was  for  one  year  its  acting  president. 
The  next  year  he  was  chosen  president  of  Cumberland  College,  Ten- 
nessee, and  also  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  but  he  declined  both 
appointments.  The  same  year,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him,  by  Dickinson  College,  then  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  J.  M.  Mason. 

After  refusing  to  consider  overtures  concerning  the  Dresidency  of 
Ohio  University,  at  Athens,  he  was  again  offered  the  presidency  of 
Cumberland  College,  and  finally  induced  to  visit  Nashville ;  the  result 
of  which  was  that  he  at  last  signified  his  acceptance  of  the  office  in 
1824.  During  his  absence,  the  board  of  trustees  of  Dickinson  Col- 
lege had  sent  a  deputy  to  Princeton,  to  induce  him  to  consent  to  be^ 
come  president  of  that  institution.  On  the  24th  of  December  he  ar- 
rived in  Nashville  with  his  family — the  college  having  then  been  in 
operation  a  few  weeks,  with  about  thirty  students.  He  was  inaugu- 
rated  with  much  pomp  and  ceremony,  on  the  12tli  of  January,  1825. 
His  address,  delivered  on  the  occasion,  was  published  and  very  widely 
circulated.     It  was  a  noble  effort,  and  was  regarded  as  auspicious  of 


Pini.IP  LINDSLEY. 


an  eminently  useful  and  brilliant  career.  The  corporate  name  of  tlu- 
college  was  changed  the  next  year  to  "The  University  of  Nashville." 
In  May,  1834,  Dr.  Linilsley  was  unanimously  elected  moderator 
of  the  general  assembly  of  the  I'resbyterian  church  of  the  United 
States,  then  holding  its  sessions  at  Philadelphia,  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  "  Royal  Society  of  Northern  Antiquarians,"  at  Copen- 
hagen, in  1837. 

In  1845,  Mrs.  Lindsley  was  taken  from  him  by  death,  after  a  most 
hapi>y  union  of  about  thirty-two  years.  In  1849  lie  was  married  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Avers,  the  widow  of  a  kinsman — Elias  Ayers,  the 
founder  of  the  New  Albany  Theological  Seminary — a  daughter  of  the 
late  Major  William  Silliman,  of  Fairfield,  Conn.,  and  a  niece  of  the 
venerable  Professor  Silliman  of  Yale  College.  In  May,  1850,  he  was 
elected  professor  of  ecclesiastical  polity  and  biblical  arcluuology  in  the 
New  Albany  Theological  Seminary ;  and,  having  resigned  the  presi 
dency  of  the  University  of  Nashville  in  October  following,  he  re- 
moved to  New  Albany  in  December,  and  entered  on  the  duties  of  the 
professorship  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year.  Here  he  continued 
usefully  and  acceptably  employed  until  April,  1853,  when  he  resigned 
the  office,  contrary  to  the  unanimous  wish  of  the  board. 

The  remaining  two  years  of  his  life  were  spent  chiefly  in  study,  de- 
votion, and  intercourse  with  his  friends.  A  few  weeks  before  the 
meeting  of  the  general  assembly  in  1855,  he  was  asked  if  he  would 
consent  to  serve  the  presbytery,  as  a  commissioner  to  the  assembly, 
and  his  reply  was,  "  I  have  never  sought  any  appointment,  and  when 
God  has  placed  upon  me  a  duty,  I  endeavor  to  discharge  it."  lie 
was  accordingly  ajjpointed  ;  but  he  seemed  afterward  to  doubt 
whether  it  was  liis  duty  to  attempt  to  fulfill  the  appointment ;  and 
he  remarked,  the  morning  that  he  left  home,  as  if  from  a  premonition 
of  what  was  before  liim,  "I  think  it  probable  I  shall  never  return — I 
may  die  before  I  reach  Nashville."  lie,  however,  did  reach  Nashville, 
though  he  reached  it  only  to  die. 

On  Wednesday  morning,  the  23d  of  May,  while  he  was  sitting  at 
the  breakfast-table,  surrounded  by  his  children,  the  conversation 
turned  upon  the  danger  of  aged  men  traveling  from  home;  and  Dr. 
Lindsley  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  was  unwise,  and  tliat  they 
thereby  often  put  their  lives  in  jeopardy.  A  guest  at  the  table 
pleasantly  inquired,  "Is  not  your  advice  inconsistent  with  your  own 
lonely  journey  to  this  place  ?  "  "  No."  he  replied,  "  no  ;  I  am  liere 
also  at  home — as  well  die  here  as  any  where."  And  in  a  few  min- 
utes he  was  struck  with  apoplexy,  and  passed  instantly  into  a  state 
of  unconsciousness,  in  which  he  remained  till  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred at  one  o'clock  the  next  Friday  morning. 


I 


10  nil  MP  J.INDSLEY. 

Wlien  tlio  tidings  of  liis  alarming  illness  were  communicated  to  tlie 
general  assembly,  special  prayers  were  immediately  offered  in  liis  be- 
half, and  a  committee  appointed  to  visit  him,  and  express  the  sympa- 
thy of  the  assembly  with  his  afflicted  faniily.  Wlien  liis  departure 
was  announced,  the  most  tender  and  respectful  notice  was  taken  of  it, 
and  tlic  funeral  solemnities,  which  took  place  on  the  succeeding  Mon- 
day, and  were  conducted  by  distinguished  members  of  the  assembly, 
bore  witness  to  the  gratitude  and  veneration  with  which  his  character 
and  services  were  regarded.  His  remains  were  deposited  by  the  side 
of  his  first  wife  and  his  youngest  son. 

Dr.  Lindsley  left  five  cliildren — three  sons  and  two  daughters.  All 
his  sons  were  graduated  at  tlie  University  of  Nashville.  One  of  them, 
Adrian  Van  Sinderen,  is  a  lawyer;  another,  Natlianiel  Lawrence,  was 
formerly  professor  of  languages  in  Cumberland  University, Tenn.,  and 
more  recently  engaged  in  literary  pursuits  at  Cambridge,  Mass, ;  and 
the  third,  John  Berrien,  is  an  ordained  minister  of  tlie  Presbyterian 
Church,  chancellor  of  the  University  of  Nashville,  and  professor  of 
chemistry  in  the  medical  department  of  the  same  institution. 

II.       ins    CHIEF    WORK    AT    NASHVILLE. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  were  three  principal  fields  of  labor 
on  which  Dr.  Lindsley,  at  different  periods  of  life,  made  his  influence 
felt  as  an  educator:  the  first  in  his  native  state,  and  within  the  walls 
of  his  own  Abna  Mater,  where  he  devoted  fifteen  years  of  his  early 
prime,  with  unsurpassed  energy  and  ardor,  to  the  work  of  classical 
instruction,  gradually  but  easily  winning  his  way  up,  from  a  tutorship  if 

to  the  presidency  of  the  college  ;  the  second  at  the  capital  of  the  then  ^1 

young  and  rising  state  of  Tennessee,  where,  for  twenty-six  years,  he 
gave  the  whole  force  of  his  intellect  and  character  to  the  furtherance 
of  all  popular  and  liberal  education ;  and  the  third  at  New  Albany, 
where,  for  a  few  years,  he  imparted  to  candidates  for  the  gospel  min- 
istry the  well-matured  results  of  his  experience  and  scholarship.  Of 
this  last  field  we  shall  not  now  speak.  His  period  of  labor  there  was 
too  short,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  institution  too  much  embar- 
rassed, to  admit  of  much  development.  Nor  need  we  dwell  long  on 
the  first  field,  in  New  Jersey.  Brilliant  as  had  been  his  successes  there, 
both  as  a  scholar  and  a  teacher,  there  can  be  no  rpiestion  that  the 
great  work  of  liis  life,  both  as  it  regards  its  intrinsic  labor  and  its 
lasting  usefulness,  was  performed  in  Tennessee. 

Of  this  first  period,  however,  we  may  give,  in  passing,  the  testi- 
mony of  an  eye-witness.  Dr.  Maclean,  the  present  (1859)  president 
of  the  college  at  Princeton.  "  l^r.  Lindsley,''  says  he,  "  was  one  of 
the  best  teachers  of  whom  T  have  any  knowledge.  He  had,  in  a 
high  degree,  tlie  hap|»v  f'afiiltv  of  impnrting  to  his  pupils  some  of  his 


PH11.1P  LINDSLEV.  j  j 

uwii  ardor  lor  tlic  stmliL's  of  lii.s  dejiartiiuMit.  Tlivy  were  taught  to 
give  close  attention  to  graiumatical  nicctie<s,  as  well  as  to  the  style  and 
sentiments  of  the  autliors  studied.  For  youth  in  colle^-e,  as  well  as 
for  youth  in  classical  schools,  he  insisted  upon  the  importance  of  con- 
stant reference  to  the  grammar  and  the  dietionary,  and  of  a  thorough 
analysis  of  the  words,  as  requisite  to  a  full  appreciation  of  the  bean- 
ties  of  style  and  thought.  His  favorite  Greek  authors,  if  I  mistake 
not,  were  Homer,  Aristotle,  and  Longinus;  and  to  his  fondness  for 
them  may  be  traced  some  of  the  characteristics  of  his  own  style." 

It  is  known  that  he  declined  the  highest  position  in  the  gift  of  his 
Alma  Mater,  and  cast  his  lot  in  the  West,  contrary  to  the  wishes, 
and  indeed  with  the  deep  regret,  of  his  friends  at  the  East.  Who  can 
tell  the  career  of  honor  and  usefulness  whieh  might  have  awaited 
him  there  had  he  accepted  that  important  i)osition  ?  Who  can  say 
that  a  presidency  at  Nassau  Hall,  running  through  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  would  not  have  presented  a  career  of  usefulness  fully  equal 
to  that  of  Dwight  at  Yale,  or  Nott  at  Union,  or  any  other  which 
our  country  has  yet  afforded.  Still  we  hesitate  not  to  think  that  he 
acted  wisely  and  well  in  going  just  when  he  did  to  what  might  then 
be  called  the  wild  woods  of  Tennessee.  We  have  no  manner  of 
doubt  that  he  there  achieved  a  greater  and  more  important  work  fui' 
his  generation  than  he  could  possibly  have  ever  done  at  I'rineeton, 
New  Haven,  or  any  other  eastern  seat  of  learning.  The  heart  of  man 
deviseth  his  way,  but  the  Lord  directeth  his  steps.  A  great  state  was 
just  emerging  from  the  wilderness — building  its  churches  and  school- 
houses,  constructing  its  works  of  internal  improvement,  bringing  its 
virgin  soil  into  cultivation,  and  just  ready  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
its  literary  and  scientific  institutions.  The  greatest  work  Avhich  any 
slate  can  ever  do  for  its  children  in  all  time  to  come,  that  of  forming 
and  putting  into  operation  its  systems  of  liberal  and  popular  educa- 
tion, was  here  to  be  done.  A  master-workman  was  needed  for  the 
occasion — one  who  had  the  knowledge  to  grasp  the  problem,  and  the 
genius,  energy,  and  enthusiasm  to  solve  it.  That  master-spirit  was 
found  in  Philip  Lindsley.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  if  Cum- 
berland College  had  made  her  selection  from  the  entire  circle  of  the 
eastern  colleges,  she  could  not  probably  have  found  any  man  more 
coujpetent  and  better  furnished  for  the  task,  better  prepared,  by  all  his 
tastes,  studies,  and  attainments,  to  be  the  very  2>ioneer,  missionary, 
atid  champion  of  collegiate  or  university  education  at  the  South  West. 

Having  thus  selected  his  ground,  and  driven  down  his  stakes,  at  a 
point  which  was  then  the  extreme  south-western  outpost  of  educa- 
tional institutions,  he  determined  once  for  all  not  to  abandon  it. 
Nothing  is  more  striking  in  all  his  history,  and  indicative  of  that  firm- 


J 2  I'llil.lP  LINUSLKV. 

ness  ot"  j)urpose  wliicli  constituted  so  iini)Oitaiit  an  element  in  bis 
character,  than  tlie  fixed  and  persistent  determination  which  kept  him 
from  ever  leaving  Nasluille  till  his  work  was  done.  No  inducement 
from  abroad,  and  no  amount  of  difficulty  at  borne,  could  ever  wean 
him  from  this  his  first  love  of  western  life.  There  was  scarcely  a  year 
of  the  twenty-six  when  he  might  not  have  gone  to  other  posts  of 
usefulness  and  honor.  Oft'ers  came  to  him  unsolicited,  from  the  East, 
the  North,  the  South.  To  those  who  understood  the  discouragements 
which  he  had  to  encounter  at  Nashville,  and  the  repeated  liberal  in- 
ducements held  out  to  him  from  other  quarters,  there  was  a  touch  of 
the  heroic  and  sublime  in  that  steady,  unalterable  resolve  which  kept 
him  at  his  chosen  post  so  long,  and  from  first  to  last  so  confident  of 
success. 

Says  Dr.  Sprague,  "  Though  Dr.  Lindsley  never,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, sought  an  appointment  from  any  literary  institution,  such  was 
bis  reputation  that  he  was  solicited  to  the  presidency  of  such  institu- 
tions more  frequently  perhaps  than  any  other  man  who  has  ever  lived 
in  this  country.  In  addition  to  the  cases  already  mentioned  (in  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,)  he  was  chosen  to  the  presidency  of 
Washington  College,  Lexington,  Va.,  and  of  Dickinson  College,  Car- 
lisle, in  1829;  was  chosen  twice  to  the  presidency  of  the  University 
of  Alabama,  at  Tuscaloosa,  in  1830;  was  chosen  provost  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  at  Philadelphia,  and  president  of  the  College 
of  Louisiana,  at  Jackson,  in  1834  ;  president  of  Soutli  Alabama  Col- 
lege, at  Marion,  in  1837;  and  president  of  Transylvania  University, 
in  1839  :  all  which  appointments  be  promptly  declined,  though  he 
was  greatly  ui-ged  to  accept  them." 

Now  the  ex])lanation  of  all  this  is,  that  lie  saw  from  the  first,  with 
the  clear  intuition  of  his  strong,  practical  mind,  that  there  was  a  great 
work  to  do  in  Tennessee — one  not  to  be  finished  in  a  day  or  a  year, 
but  demanding  the  labor  of  a  life-time;  and  accordingly,  instead  of 
frittering  away  his  energies  on  half  a  dozen  different  schemes  and 
points  of  influence,  be  determined  to  make  the  most  of  life  by  devot- 
ing it  all  to  that  one  work,  and  never  to  leave  it,  until  those  who 
should  come  after  him  might  be  able,  upon  the  foundation  which  he 
bad  laid,  to  rear  a  noble  and  lasting  structure. 

III.       IIIB    PLANS    AND    rURPOSES    AS  TO  A   UNIVERSITY. 

Coming  to  Nashville  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  well-matured  faculties, 
at  a  time  when  there  was  scarcely  any  thing  worthy  of  the  name 
of  college  in  all  the  South  West,  it  was  natural  that  Dr.  Lindsley 
should  at  once  form  the  design  of  establishing  an  institution  on  a 
broad  and  permanent  bas's,  fully  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  thing 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY.  13 

of  the  kind  in  our  country,  lie  was  too  well  versed  in  all  the  essen- 
tial elements  that  constitute  the  life  of  a  college,  ever  to  suppose  that 
this  could  be  done  imniediatelv.  But  we  tiiid  the  inagMiticent  con- 
ception taking  [lossossioii  of  his  mind  from  the  very  begiiuiing — of 
building  u])  an  institution  of  the  first  order,  not  only  for  'J\MiiK'.-s(.'f, 
but  the  wlnjje  South  West.  Accordingly,  in  his  first  public  address 
at  Nashville,  in  182.5,  on  his  inauguration  as  president — which  was 
throughout  a  nK)st  masterly  plea  tor  "Co/Ay /«/e  A'(/«cu</o)t "  as  the 
very  life  of  a  free  people — he  expressed  his  views  in  such  terms  as 
the  following :  — 

Till-  grand  ixpL-riiiient  is  idmnt  to  be  made  wlietiior  tliis  college  sliall  be  organ- 
ized on  a  perinarifiit  and  respeetable  basis,  or  whether  it  again  be  destined  to  a 
temporary  existcnei',  and  to  ultimate  faihn-e,  from  tlie  want  of  duo  eiieouiagement 
and  patronage  from  the  wealtliy  eilizens  of  West  Tennessee  and  the  adjaeenl 
states.  It  is  desirable  that,  in  a  college,  piovision  should  be  made  for  instruction 
in  all  the  sciences,  and  in  every  department  of  philosophy  and  literature.  To  the 
ultimate  attainment  of  this  desideratum  we  must  direct  our  views.  We  hope  to 
see  tlic  day,  or  that  our  successors  may  see  it,  when  in  Cumberland,  or  in  the 
tiniversity  of  Nashville,  shall  be  found  such  an  array  of  able  professors,  sueli 
l.braries  and  apparatus,  sueh  cabinets  of  curiosities  and  of  natural  history,  such 
botanical  gardens,  astronomical  obscrvatt)ries.  and  chemical  laboratories,  as  sliall 
insure  to  the  student  every  advantage  w  liieh  the  oldest  and  noblest  European 
institutions  can  boast.  So  that  no  branch  of  experimental  or  physical,  of  moral 
or  political  science,  (»f  ancient  or  modern  languages  and  literature,  shall  be  neg- 
lected. 

In  his  first  baccalaureate  address,  entitled  "  The  Cause  of  Educa- 
tion hi  Tennessee,''^  and  delivered  oti  the  first  commencement  of  the 
University,  in  1826,  we  find  him  developing  still  further  the  magnifi- 
cent educational  scheme  which  he  had  projected,     lie  says : — 

The  trustees  of  Cumberlanil  College  have  pureliascd  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  land,  to  meet  the  various  purposes  of  their  contemplated  university.  It 
is  proposed  immediately  to  commence  the  erection  of  a  series  of  buildings  for  the 
accommodation  of  students,  instructors,  and  stewards  ;  consisting  of  five  additional 
colleges,  each  sufficiently  commodious  for  a  hundred  students,  and.  three  assistant 
professors  or  tutoi's,  and  of  seven  houses  for  as  many  princijjal  or  liead-professors. 
We  shall  then  liave  six  colleges,  and  twenty-five  instructors,  and  accommodations 
for  six  hundred  |)upils.  To  each  college  will  be  attached  a  refectory  or  boardmg- 
housc,  with  eiiflit  or  ten  acres  of  land  for  gardening  and  exercise.  The  colleges 
will  be  erected  at  sueh  distances  from  each  other  as  to  prevent  the  usual  evils 
resulting  from  the  congregation  of  largo  numbers  of  youth  at  the  .^ame  j)lace. 
Professors  will  occupy  houses  on  the  intervening  lots  ;  and  there  will  be  at  least 
three  officers  resident  within  the  walls  of  each  college.  We  shall  thus  liave 
six  distinct  and  separate  families,  so  far  as  regards  domestic  economy,  internal 
police,  and  social  onU'r  ;  while  one  scnatus  acadcmicus  will  superintend  and 
control  the  wliole. 

A  more  eligible  or  healthful  site,  for  such  an  establi.shment,  can  not  be  found 
in  the  western  country.  Here  is  the  place,  and  now  is  the  time,  for  genei'oiLs 
i-nterprise.  Here  let  us  erect  a  university  so  decidedly  and  confessedly  superior 
in  every  department  that  a  rival  or  eon)petitor  ni'ed  not  be  feared.  Let  us  make 
ample  provision  for  every  species  of  instruction — seientitic,  literary,  professional — 
which  our  country  demands.  Let  education  be  extended  to  the  physical  and 
moral,  as  well  as  to  the  mental,  faculties.  Ix-t  agriculture,  horticulture,  civil  and 
military  engineering,  gymnastics,  the  liberal  and  the  nu'chanical  arts — whatever 
may  tend  to  impart  vigor,  dignity,  grace,  activity,  health  to  the  body — whatever 
may  tend  to  purify  the   heart,  im|>rove  the  morals  and    manners,  discipline  the 


14 


I'lIlI.U'  LINDSJLEY. 


iiiUlli-cl,  .umI  tu  ruiiiis-li  it  with  f(>|>i<>iis  stores  ol'  usdiil,  (.liiiiciitaiy  kiiowlfdgt — 
obtain  tluir  npiiropriatc  plaoo  and  rank,  and  ncc-ivt-  niiritcd  attention,  in  our 
seminary  ;  so  tliat  paniits  may,  witli  conlidnu-e,  commit  their  sons  to  our  oare, 
;ussured  that  tliey  will  ho  in  safe  ami  skilit'uliiands — under  a  government  eijuitable, 
paternal,  mild,  firm,  viijilant,  and  faitiiful — where  their  every  interest  will  be  con- 
sultid,  their  every  laculty  bo  duly  cultivated,  and  where  every  eflorl  will  be  made 
to  render  them  intellii,'eiit,  virtuous,  accomplished  citizens. 

Ill  liis  ^^ Baccalaureate^^  of  1829,  he  jJeads  still  more  urgently  the 
cause  of  a  great  university,  including  all  the  dejjailments  of  law, 
medicine,  divinity,  science,  literature,  and  the  arts,  and  remarks: — 
"  Scarcely  any  portion  of  the  civilized  Christian  world  is  so  poorly  \tro- 
vided  with  the  moans  of  a  liberal  education  as  are  the  five  millions 
of  Americans  within  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  In  casting 
my  eye  over  the  map  of  Tennessee,  it  struck  me  from  the  first  that 
this  was  precisely  the  place  destined  by  Providence  for  a  great  iini 
versity,  if  ever  such  an  institution  were  to  exist  in  the  state.  And 
in  this  opinion  I  am  fully  confirmed  by  several  years'  observation  and 
experience.  I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  it  is  physically  impossible  to 
maintain  a  inuocrsitij  (I  am  not  now  speaking  of  an  ordinary  college,) 
in  any  other  town  in  the  state.  And  for  this  single  good  reason,  were 
there  no  other,  namely,  a  medical  school,  which  may  be  regarded  as 
an  essential  and  as  the  most  important  part  of  a  real  university,  can 
never  be  sustained  except  in  a  lai'ge  town  or  city,  and  the  larger  the 
l)etter.  Nashville  is  tlie  only  place  where  a  medical  school  would  even 
be  thought  of;  and  physicians  know  full  well  that  sucli  is  the  fact. 
If  Tennessee  tlien  is  to  have  such  a  school,  it  must  be  established  in 
Nashville." 

The  cit>j  of  Memphis  was  not  tlieii  in  existence,  and  it  is  remark- 
able how  well  the  present  flourishing  medical  school  at  Nashville, 
with  its  four  lumdred  students,  its  able  faculty,  its  spacious  and  well- 
arranged  laboratories,  museum,  library,  and  general  apparatus,  hardly 
inferior  to  any  in  the  Union,  vindicates  the  sagacity  of  this  early 
opinion  and  prediction. 

In  his  commencement  speech  of  1837,  which  was  one  of  the 
longest  and  ablest  of  all  liis  educational  discourses,  after  giving  an 
uutline  of  the  various  systems  of  collegiate  and  university  education 
ill  England,  Scotland,  Continental  Europe,  and  our  own  country,  lie 
proceeds  to  present  a  sketch  or  summary  of  the  scheme  which  he 
wisfied  to  carry  out  at  Nashville.  After  expressing  the  opinion  that, 
for  the  2^ur2)ose  of  educating  hoijs,  generally  between  the  ages  of  fifteen 
and  twenty -one,  our  isolated  American  colleges  are,  as  a  system,  to  be 
preferred  either  to  the  English  or  German  universities,  provided  they 
be  made  in  fact  what  they  are  in  name,  he  says : — 

But  I  would  not  stop  hero.     While  I  would  duly  encourage  and  improve  tlio 
ommon  college,  as  we  should  the  common  school,  there  ought  to  be  in  every 


PHILIP  I.INDSLEY.  15 

state,  at  least  ia  each  of  Ihc  larger  states,  one  institution  of  the  highest  onlor  ami 
most  comprehensive  and  commanding  character.  If  wc  can  not  achieve  this 
object  in  five  or  twenty  years,  it  may  be  done  perhaps  in  fifty  or  five  hundred. 
If  we  can  not  hope  in  our  day  to  rival  Berlin,  Munich,  Ciiittingen,  Leipzig, 
Copeidiagen,  Vienna,  ilalle,  Lcyden,  Paris,  Moscow,  or  even  St.  Petersburg,  we 
may  commence  the  enterprise,  and  leave  posterity  to  carry  it  onward  toward 
completion.  For  complete,  in  the  nature  of  things,  it  never  can  be.  It  must  \u- 
growing,  advancing,  enlarging,  aceuiimlating,  till  the  end  of  time.  No  university 
in  Europe  is  complete — not  even  in  any  one  department. 

Having  described  the  neces.sary  collections  and  fixtures,  ho  then 
goes  on  to  say  : — 

Our  university  must  have  the  requisite  teaching  force  also.  Professors  of 
every  language,  dead  and  living — of  every  science,  in  all  its  branches  and  sid)di- 
visions,  in  all  its  bearings  and  applications.  To  bo  more  jjarticular,  there  should 
h.>  |)rofessors  or  teachers 

Of  ancient  classical  languages  and  literature  ; 

Of  oriental  languages  and  literature  ; 

Of  modern  European  languages  and  literature  ; 

Of  mathematics,  natural  philosophy,  astronomy  ; 

Of  chemistry,  geology,  mineralogy,  comparative  anatomy  ; 

Of  archaeology — in  reference  to  ancient  nations,  governments,  jurispru- 
dence, geography,  mythology,  arts,  sciences,  and  still-existing  monu- 
ments ; 

Of  philology,  eloquence,  poetry,  history  ; 

Of  physiology — vegetable,  animal,  and  comparative  ; 

Of  ethics,  polities,  logic,  metaphysics ; 

Of  constitutional  and  international  law  ; 

Of  political  economy  and  national  statistics  ; 

Of  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  drawing,  engraving,  music  ; 

Of  engineering — civil,  military,  and  naval  ; 

Of  mechanics — principles  and  practice  ; 

Of  agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures  ; 

Of  fencing,  riding,  swimming,  and  other  manly  and  healthful  gymnastics ; 

Of  natural  history  in  every  department ; 

Of  all  the  liberal  professions  ; 

Of  biblical  literature  ; 

And  of  religion,  in  sueli  forms  and  modes  as  may  be  .satisfactory  to  the 
judicious  and  reflecting  portion  of  the  conmiunity. 
There  should  be  schools,  in  short,  for  all  the  sciences,  arts,  languages,  and  pro- 
fessions. So  that  no  youth  need  ever  cross  the  ocean,  to  study  and  learn  what 
ought  to  be  much  more  safely  and  advantiigeously  taught  at  home.  Tiie  above  is 
not  given  either  as  a  complete  enumeration  or  proper  grouping  of  the  subji-ets 
for  professorships,  but  rather  as  a  brief  sunnnary  or  outline  of  the  more  obvious 
and  important. 

Further  on,  he  remarks — after  reducing  his  scale  for  Nashville  ti) 
what  might  at  all  events  emulate  the  universities  of  Geneva,  of  New 
York,  or  Virginia — "Our  first  efl'ort  here  in  Nashville  should  donld- 
loss  be  to  elevate  the  only  department  which  we  have  hithorlo  at- 
tempted to  establish  ;  that  is,  the  college  for  undergraduates,  or  the 
faculty  of  arts,  sciences,  and  literature.  It  is  desirable  to  have  profes- 
sors of  German,  French,  Italian,  Spanish — perhaps  of  some  other 
modern  languages  ;  though  a  knowledge  of  none  of  them  has  been 
made  indispensable  to  graduation  in  any  college." 

In  a  word,  his  plan  was  to  build  up  an  institution,  where  boys 
might  be  trained,  under  skillful  teachers,  in  all  science  and  literature, 
before  graduating;  and  where,  after  graduation,  they  might  still  pur- 


IQ  PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 

sue  their  studies,  to  any  extent,  and  in  every  thing  that  man  needs  to 
know;  to  combine  for  the  pujtil  all  tlie  advantages  of  the  Enghsh 
and  American  college,  and  for  the  scliohir  all  the  aids  of  the  Ger- 
man university. 

Of  his  undertaking  he  speaks  as  follows  : — "  Now  the  University  of 
Nashville,  compared  with  my  own  beau  ideal  of  such  an  estahlish- 
ment,  is  but  an  element — a  mere  atom — a  foundation — a  nucleus — a 
corner-stone — a  first  essay  toward  the  gloiious  consummation  and 
perfection  of  my  own  cherished  hopes  and  anticipations.  And  I 
could  say  little  more  of  any  other  university  in  our  country.  I  re- 
gard them  all  as  being  still  in  their  infancy,  or  at  most  in  their  early 
youth  ;  and  that  their  ri(/ht  to  the  title  of  university  is  yet  to  be 
proved  and  confirmed  by  their  future  growth  to  vigorous  manliood 
and  generous  maturity." 

But  that  he  would  succeed  ultimately  in  accomplishing  his  plan, 
in  despite  of  all  obstacles,  he  seemed  never  to  have  a  doubt.  We 
remember  well  his  look  of  sublimity  and  his  tone  of  determination, 
when  in  1834,  in  one  of  his  most  eloquent  moods,  he  gave  utterance 
to  these  strong,  triumphant  words: — "We  count  not  on  the  state's 
treasury,  nor  upon  legislative  indemnification.  We  rely  not  upon 
ecclesiastical  patronage,  or  sectarian  zeal,  or  individual  munificence ; 
nor,  indeed,  upon  any  of  the  usual  sources  of  pecujiiary  revenue  which 
have  reared  and  sustained  so  many  flourishing  institutions  in  other 
sections  of  our  happy  republic.  We  belong  to  no  sect  or  party  in 
church  or  state.  We  open  our  poi'tals  wide,  and  proffer  our  instruc- 
tions freely  to  enterprising,  moral  youth  of  every  political  and  religious 
creed  in  the  land.  Literature  and  science,  language  and  philosophy, 
morals  and  virtue,  unalloyed  and  unclouded  by  the  dogmas  of  any 
sect  or  school,  we  inculcate  and  exemplify  as  best  we  can.  And  we 
ap|>eal  to  the  common  sense  and  equity  of  mankind  for  the  wisdom 
of  our  system  and  the  honesty  of  our  proceedings.  We  are  the 
staunch,  uncompromising  advocate  of  genuine  religion — of  pure,  un- 
adulterated Christianity — but,  in  all  matters  which  distinguish  one 
class  or  sect  or  church  from  another,  we  leave  our  pupils  to  parental 
guidance  and  discretion  ;  and  to  the  ministerial  cares  of  the  clergy 
in  our  city  to  whom  they  severally  yield  a  voluntary  preference. 

"  Where  then  is  the  ground  of  our  hope  and  of  our  encouragement  ? 
It  is  in  the  growing  strength  and  moral  influence  of  our  own  enlightened, 
loyal,  and  patriotic  sons,  who  issue,  year  after  year,  from  our  classic 
halls,  imbued  with  the  chivalrous  spirit  and  republican  virtue  of  the 
brightest  age  of  Greek  and  Roman  glory — and  animated  by  the  celes- . 
tial  principles  of  Christian  magnanimity  and  benevolence — and  whose 
voice  shall  yet  be  heard  by  a  generous  and  honest,  though  hitherto 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY.  |  7 

much  abused  and  misguided  people.  It  is  in  these,  under  the  pro- 
pitious smiles  and  overruling  providence  of  the  Most  High,  that  we 
place  our  con6dence,  and  garner  up  our  soul's  fondest  aspirations. 
They  will  never  prove  recreant  or  traitorous.  The  claims  of  Alma 
Mater  upon  their  affections,  their  zeal,  their  labors,  their  influence, 
their  talents,  and  their  wealth,  will  ever  be  acknowledged  as  of  para- 
mount and  everlasting  obligation. 

"We  say — or  rather  let  the  university  proudly  say — there  are  our 
sons.  We  send  them  forth  into  the  world.  And  by  the  world's 
spontaneous  verdict  upon  their  training  and  their  bearing  will  we 
abide.  We  calmly  and  confidently  await  the  world's  decision  ;  and 
we  feel  assured  of  no  mortifying  disappointment.  Our  faith  is  strong, 
unwavering,  invincible.  And  our  purpose  to  persevere  in  the  good 
work,  which  has  thus  f;ir  been  signally  prospered  in  the  midst  of  every 
species  of  hinderance  and  discouragement,  can  not  be  shaken.  The 
tongue  which  now  speaks  our  high  resolve,  and  bids  defiance  to  scru- 
tiny, to  prejudice,  to  jealousy,  to  cowardice,  to  calumny,  to  malevo- 
lence, may  be  silent  in  the  tomb  long  ere  the  glorious  victory  shall 
be  achieved.  But  WE,  the  UNIVERSITY,  live  forever !  And  gen- 
erations yet  unborn  shall  rejoice  in  our  triumphs,  and  pronounce  the 
eulogium  which  our  labors  will  have  nobly  won." 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  zeal  and  ardor  with  which,  on  all 
private  and  all  public  occasions,  Doctor  Lindsley  was  found  battling 
against  popular  prejudices,  and  defending  the  great  enterprise  to  which 
he  had  consecrated  his  life.  The  college — the  higher  learning — 
university  education  became  his  abiding  theme,  on  which  he  was  ever 
ready  to  pour  out  the  full  treasures  of  bis  classical  and  accomplished 
mind.  Probably  some  of  the  finest  and  most  triumphant  vindications 
of  learning  that  ever  fell  from  the  lips  of  man  were  made  by  him 
during  this  period.     We  subjoin  a  few  specimens: — 

Ignorance  never  dul  any  good,  and  never  will  or  can  do  any  good.  Ignorant 
men  are  good  for  nothing,  except  so  far  as  they  are  governed  and  directed  by 
intelligent  superiors.  Hence  it  is  the  order  of  Providence,  that  in  every  well-reg- 
ulated community  children  and  all  grossly  ignorant  persons  are  held  in  subjection 
to  age  and  wisdom  and  experience.  No  species  or  portion,  even  of  the  humblest 
manual  or  mechanical  labor,  can  be  performed  until  the  party  be  taught  how  to 
do  it. 

If  it  be  said  that  the  Deity  has  no  need  of  human  learning  to  propagate  his 
religion,  it  may  be  replied  that  neither  lias  he  any  need  of  human  ignorance. 
lie  could,  if  he  chose,  dispense  with  human  agency  altogetlier.  But  we  have 
yet  to  learn  that  Infinite  Wisdom  lias  ever  selected  an  insufficient  and  inadequate 
asency  for  any  purpose  wliatever.  In  the  days  of  prophecy  and  miracle,  from 
Moses  to  Paul,  htj  never  employed  human  ignorance  in  the  work  of  instruction. 
If  they  were  not  all  educated  in  the  universities  of  Egypt,  as  was  Moses,  or  of 
Judea,  as  was  Isaiah,  or  of  Babylon,  as  was  Daniel,  or  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel, 
as  was  Paul,  they  were  well-trained  somewhere,  and  by  competent  masters,  as 
were  the  fishermen  of  Galilee  by  Christ  himself,  besides  being  endowed  with  the 
gift  of  tongues,  and  extraordinary  communications  for  every  emerofcncy. 


18 


PIIIMP  LINDSLRV. 


I  use  the  term  university  as  equivalent  to  the  host  possible  system  of  educa- 
tion, and  in  reference  to  the  highest  order  and  degree  of  intellectual  and  moral 
cultivation.  Wherever,  and  by  whatever  process,  the  human  mind  is  most  effectual 
ly  imbued  and  enriched  with  the  purest  treasures  of  science  and  knowledge,  and 
where  the  whole  man  is  duly  trained  and  qualified  for  the  greatest  usefulness,  there 
is  »ny  university. 

I  affirm  then  that  the  university,  as  just  explained,  ever  has  been,  is  now,  and 
i'ver  will  be,  the  grand  conservative  principle  of  civilization,  of  truth,  virtue, 
learning,  liberty,  religion,  and  good  government  among  mankind.  To  the  wni- 
versity  are  we  indebted  for  all  the  useful  arts,  laws,  morals,  enjoyments,  comforts, 
conveniences,  and  blessings  of  civilized  society.  There  has  never  been  a  nation 
or  community,  higlily  enlightened  and  civilized,  where  the  university  did  not  dis- 
pense its  kindly  influences,  or  where  it  did  not  occupy  a  commanding  position. 
The  nations  of  antiquity  degenerated,  or  sunk  into  barbarism,  just  as  the  univers- 
ity, or  higher  learning,  was  neglected  or  became  extinct  among  them.  It  has 
never  been  found  among  savages  or  barbai-ians  ;  and  all  the  nations  and  tribes 
upon  our  globe  arc  barbarians  or  savages  at  this  day  where  the  university  is  not, 
or  where  its  cheering  and  illuminating  beams  have  not  penetrated. 

If  to  this  broad  statement  it  be  objected,  that  science,  literature,  and  refinement 
abound  in  regions  wliere  no  university  has  been  established ;  I  answer,  that  the 
beneficial  effects  of  the  university  are  oftentimes  experienced  at  great  distances 
from  its  actual  location.  The  universities  of  Egypt  extended  their  salutary  and 
redeeming  spirit  even  to  barbarous  Greece.  Those  of  Europe  are  felt  in  Amer- 
ica. And  those  of  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  may  operate  in  Tennessee  and 
Texas.  In  the  present  condition  of  the  commercial  and  missionar}^  world,  the 
influence  of  the  university  is  visible  in  almost  every  quarter — in  New  Holland 
and  the  South  Sea  Islands — on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Congo  and  the 
Amazon — and  wherever  European  and  American  civilization  has  acquired  even  a 
partial  or  temporary  resting-place. 

If  again  we  be  directed  to  self-taught  and  self-made  men  as  a  triumphant  neg- 
ative to  our  whole  theory ;  I  tell  you,  that  self-taught  men  (as  they  are  styled,) 
such  as  Franklin,  Ferguson,  Shakspeare,  Watt,  Arkwright,  Henry,  Fulton, 
Davy,  are,  or  were,  just  as  much  indebted  to  the  university  as  were  Bacon,  Sel- 
den,  Newton,  Burke,  Jefierson,  Jay,  Madison,  or  Whitney.  The  latter  drank 
at  the  fountain,  the  former  at  the  streams  which  issue  from  it.  Had  Franklin 
oeen  born  and  bred  among  savages,  he  might  have  become  the  first  among  the 
prophets  and  chiefs  of  his  tribe ;  but  he  would  not  have  been  enrolled  among  the 
greatest  philosophers  and  statesmen  of  the  civilized  world.  Washington  too  might 
have  been  the  Tecumseh  or  Black  Hawk  of  the  wilderness,  but  not  the  saviour, 
the  founder,  the  father  of  a  mighty  republic  of  enlightened  and  happy  freemen. 
He  had  studied  in  the  school  of  Locke  and  Rlilton,  of  Sidney  and  Hampden,  of 
Tell  and  Phocion  ;  and  like  them  was  liberally  educated.  He  was  not  a  scholar 
in  the  strict,  technical  meaning  of  the  term,  though  his  scholarship  was  respect- 
able and  far  superior  to  that  of  many  a  college  graduate. 

In  the  eloquent  appeals  which  he  was  constantly  making  in  behalf 
of  this  grand  enterprise,  Dr.  Lindsley  was  sometimes  deemed  a  vis- 
ionary and  enthusiast  by  the  short-sighted  politicians  of  his  day. 
But  there  was  nothing  visionary  about  him.  Never  was  any  man 
blest  with  a  more  practical  mind,  or  a  larger  stock  of  good  English 
common  sense.  He  knew  precisely  what  he  was  abotit  from  the  be- 
ginning. He  knew  that  the  way  to  build  up  a  great  institution  at 
Nashville  was  to  secure  first  a  yood  and  broad  foundation  in  the 
soil.  And  in  that  he  was  not  mistaken.  There  is  no  manner  of 
doubt  that  he  could  have  accomiilished,  and  would  have  accomplished, 
in  his  own  life-time— nay,  at  an  early  period  of  his  career— all  that 
he  had  projected,  if  he  had  only  succeeded  in  bringing  the  legisla- 
ture  or  tlie   people   of  Tennessee  to  his  own  views.     He  told  them 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY.  jq 

from  tlie  beginning  tliat  a  "  university  would  be  an  expensive  con- 
cern ; "  but  he  demonstrated  that  it  was  a  concern  which  would 
paij — both  intellectually  and  morally.  ITe  demonstrated  that  it  would 
bring  benefits  both  to  the  rich  and  the  poor,  to  the  citizens  of  Nasli- 
ville  and  the  people  of  Tennessee,  to  themselves  and  their  children, 
in  all  time  to  come.  The  visionaries  were  those  who  thought  it 
would  not  jxi)/,  and  that  it  was  foolish  to  spend  a  few  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  to  build  up  a  Cambridge  or  an  Oxford,  a  Harvard  or 
Yale,  in  the  Far  West. 

In  carrying  forward  so  great  a  work,  he  had  expected  at  one  time 
io  secure  both  the  public  aid  of  the  state  and  the  private  co-opera- 
tion and  munificence  of  the  citizens  of  Nashville.  The  result  proved 
that  he  had  to  rely  solely  on  the  latter.  In  the  address  of  1832, 
after  again  unfolding  his  scheme  of  a  university,  he  says  :  "  This  would 
be  a  species  of  internal  improvement  worthy  of  the  republic,  and 
which  would  elevate  Tennessee  to  a  rank  never  yet  attained  by  any 
people.  And  the  legislature,  which  shall  boldly  lay  the  corner-stone 
of  such  a  magnificent  temple  of  popular  instruction,  will  deserve  and 
w'ill  gain  a  glorious  immortality,  whatever  may  be  the  verdict  of  their 
constituents  or  of  their  cotemporarios.  Their  magnanimous  and  en- 
lightened patriotism  will  be  celebrated  a  thousand  lustrums  after  the 
petty  interests  and  conflicts  of  this  selfish  generation  shall  be  for- 
gotten." 

But  finding,  after  a  few  }'ears'  tiial,  that  he  could  neither  depend 
on  state  aid  nor  secure  from  individual  munificence  such  an  endow- 
ment as  his  scheme  demanded,  he  then  set  to  work  manfully  to  make 
of  his  university  as  good  an  institution  as  the  limited  means  at  his 
disposal  and  the  steadfast  co-operation  of  his  coadjutors  at  Nashville 
would  admit.  In  this  spirit,  ever  ready  to  Jiiodify  his  views  to  exist- 
ing circumstances,  and  never  for  a  moment  despairing  of  ultimate 
success,  we  find  him  giving  utterance  to  the  following  words  : — "In  in- 
augurating the  establishment  of  a  university  at  Nashville,  the  honest 
purpose  was  fondly  cherished  from  the  beginning  to  render  it  in  fact 
all  that  the  name  imports.  Its  friends  desired  to  lay  its  foundations 
deep  and  broad.  They  felt  that  they  were  going  to  build  for  poster- 
ity as  well  as  for  the  living.  That  kind  of  ephemeral  popularity 
which  is  so  cheaply  purchased,  au.d  which  is  never  worth  the 
cheapest  purchase,  they  neither  sought  nor  coveted.  They  did  not 
expect  to  see  the  gilded  domes  and  lofty  turrets  of  their  university 
suddenly  rising  in  splendor,  and  dazzling  the  eye  of  every  beholder. 
They  knew  that  they  could,  at  best,  achieve  little  more  than  the  com- 
mencement of  a  work,  which  must  be  fostered,  and  enlarged,  and 
matured,  in  the  progress  perhaps  of  ages  to  come." 

These  quiet  words  indicated  the  right  spirit — the  spirit  of  a  truo 


20  PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 

and  faithful  worker,  who  had  learned  how  "  to  labor  and  to  wait " — 
a  spirit  which  every  man  must  have  who  would  succeed  in  instructing 
the  young,  or  building  up  a  literary  institution.  And  although,  for 
want  of  funds,  Dr.  Lindsley  did  not  accomplish  in  his  own  life-time 
the  precise  thing  which  he  first  piojocted  at  Nashville,  yet  he  did 
succeed,  in  despite  of  manifold  drawbacks  and  discouragements,  in 
building  up  an  institution  which,  as  it  regards  the  standard  of  schol- 
arship in  its  professors  and  the  attainments  and  subsequent  usefulness  of 
its  alumni,  stood,  as  long  as  he  was  at  the  head  of  it,  second  to  none  in 
the  Mississippi  valley.  Nor  did  lie  leave  it  until  he  felt  that  he  could 
safely  intrust  it  into  the  hands  of  one  who,  though  young  to  receive 
such  a  father's  mantle,  was  fully  competent,  both  by  education  and 
endowment,  to  enter  into  all  his  plans  and  carry  forward  all  his  work. 
Qui  facit  2>ci'  alios  facit  per  se  is  as  true  of  a  good  work  as  of  the  re- 
verse. An  educator's  work  is  never  fully  done,  nor  can  his  influence 
be  fully  measured,  short  of  what  his  pupils  and  his  children  shall  do. 
And  hence  there  is  no  improbability  that  Dr.  Lindsley  may  yet,  by 
his  perpetuated  influence  and  laboi',  accomplish  the  realization  of  that 
splendid  beau  ideal  of  a  great  university  which  rose  up  before  his 
imagination  as  he  first  surveyed  the  beautiful  city  of  rocks  and  cedars 
on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no  question  that  his  earnest 
and  persevering  eftbrts  to  found  a  great  university  at  Nashville  did 
in  a  manner  train  the  public  mind  in  Tennessee  to  large  and  liberal 
views  of  education.  By  aiming  at  great  things  he  inspired  the  lead- 
ing minds  around  him  with  somewhat  of  his  own  enthusiastic  admi- 
ration for  the  higher  learning;  and  these  imparted  his  views  to  others. 
By  keeping  the  subject  of  collegiate  education  prominently  before 
the  public  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  availing  himself  of  every 
opportunity  to  magnify  its  importance,  he  gave  a  noble  impulse  to 
the  whole  work  of  education  in  every  department  of  it — an  impulse 
which  was  soon  felt  over  the  whole  region  around  him,  and  is  still 
working  mightily.  It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  his  power  and 
success  as  a  teacher,  that  he  never  failed  to  leaven  his  pupils  with  his 
own  doctrines  on  all  educational  subjects — at  least  those  of  them 
who  were  with  hini  any  length  of  time,  and  were  cajjable  of  under- 
standing and  appreciating  his  opinions.  He  was  sure  to  inspire  them 
with  elevated  and  liberal  sentiments  on  the  whole  subject  of  learning ; 
and  his  own  example  taught  them  to  expect  great  things  and  to 
attempt  great  things.  He  was  peculiarly  fortunate  too  in  the  circum- 
st-ance  that  all  his  sons,  graduating  at  the  university,  under  his  own 
immediate  instructions,  partook  of  his  spirit,  and  stood  ready  to  adopt 
and  carry  forward   all  his   long  cherished  plans  of  education.     The 


I'lllJ.ll'  M.NDSLIJY. 


21 


eldest,  graduating  with  high  distiiictiuii  in  a  class  remarkable  for 
talents,  and  settling  at  Nashville  in  the  profession  of  the  law,  became 
one  of  the  most  active  and  inHiiential  of  all  her  alumni  in  sustaining 
the  honor  of  Alma  Mater,  and  thus  fui'thering  the  great  work  to 
which  tlic  father's  life  had  been  consecrated.  The  two  vounger, 
entering  the  profession  of  their  choice,  that  of  the  educator,  in  com- 
parative youth,  have  ever  since  devoted  themselves  to  its  high  and 
arduous  responsibilities,  and  have  already,  on  different  tields,  won  a 
distinguished  reputation  as  practical  instructors.  For  while  one,  as 
before  indicated,  remains  at  Nashville,  the  chancellor  of  its  university, 
carrying  forwai'd  with  signal  success  the  great  work  marked  out  by 
the  father  ;  the  other,*  after  teaching  several  years  in  one  of  the  chairs 
of  the  university,  and  after  it  had  become  manifest  that  the  good 
people  of  Tennessee  demanded  not  one  or  two  only  but  many  colleges, 
was  called  to  bear  a  laborious  and  impoitant  part  in  building  up  the 
Cumberland  University,  at  Lebanon,  in  the  same  state.  In  full 
accordance  with  his  father's  counsel  in  the  matter,  he  accepted  the 
professorship  of  ancient  languages  and  literature  in  that  young 
and  rising  institution,  and  for  several  years  contributed  his  whole 
talents  and  influence  to  give  it  that  character  which  it  has  attained 
amongst  the  foremost  institutions  of  the  West;  holding  now  by  its 
law  department  the  same  commanding  position  among  the  schools  of 
our  country  which  the  university  at  Nashville  holds  by  its  medical 
department.  But,  resigning  this  important  post,  he  has  since  founded 
the  Greenwood  Seminary,  tor  young  ladies,  near  Lebanon,  over  which 
he  now  presides  with  eminent  ability,  gracefully  commingling  a 
genial  care  of  the  young  with  an  enthusiastic  devotion  to  literary 
pursuits.  And  thus,  while  the  great  and  gifted  author  of  all  these 
large  and  liberal  schemes  of  culture  for  the  youth  of  Tennessee  has 
himself  passed  from  the  field  of  his  labors,  it  is  gratifying  to  know 
that  his  work  still  goes  on,  in  the  hands  of  his  pupils  and  his  children. 
So  true  is  it,  that  the  good  men  do,  when  it  is  well  done,  lives  after 
them. 

No  State  west  of  the  mountains  is  better  supplied  with  colleges 
than  Tennessee,  especially  all  that  part  wliich  has  had  a  more  imme- 
diate connection  with  Nashville.  To  show  the  contrast  between  the 
present  facilities  for  collegiate  and  even  professional  education  and 
those  which  existed  in  the  same  region  thirty-five  years  ago,  when 
E>r.  Lindsley  went  to  Nashville,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  glance  at  the 
latest  catalogues  of  the  more  prominent  institutions  in  Middle  and 
East  Tennessee.! 

*Prof.  N.  Lawrence  Lindsley. 

tOn  his  resignation,  the  University  of  Nashville  was  suspended  a  few  years,  in  order  to  erect 
new  buildings.    It  was  reorganized  and  opened  again  in  1853.    In  the  mean  time,  the  medical  de- 


22 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 


IV.       HIS    SPOKEN    AND    PUBLISHED    ADDHESSES. 

The  published  writings  of  Dr.  Lindsley  consist  chiefly  of  his 
baccalaureate  addresses  and  occasional  sermons.  His  great  theme, 
even  in  his  sermons,  was  education  and  its  kindred  topics.  In  one  of 
his  ablest  published  discourses,  delivered  at  the  installation  of  Dr.  Edgar, 
in  Nashville,  in  1833,  he  speaks  of  his  preaching  in  the  following 
terms,  indicating  a  far  humbler  estimate  of  it,  in  his  own  mind,  than 
the  public  were  accustomed  to  take  : — "  My  own  particular  sphere  of 
ministerial  duty  has  ever  been  extremely  humble  and  limited,  as  it 
regards  age  and  numbers,  thougli  not  unimportant  in  reference  to  the 
ultimate  welfare  of  the  church  and  the  public.  My  province  too  has 
always  demanded  a  different  kind  and  form  of  preaching  from  that 
which  obtains  in  a  popular  assembly.  A  word  in  season — a 
little  liere  and  a  Ittle  there — and  something  every  day  to  one  or  a 
dozen,  as  occasion  offered  or  suggested — without  touching  on  points 
of  theological  or  ecclesiastical  controrer-sy,  and  without  the  formal 
method  of  regular  sermonizing — has  been  the  fashion  of  my  own  very 
imperfect  essays  in  the  good  work  of  the  gospel  ministry."  And 
hence  it  was  that,  always  regarding  himself  as  an  educator  of  the 
voung,  he  was  often,  even  in  his  public  discourses  on  the  Sabbath, 
found  pleading  the  cause  of  education. 

Dr.  Sprague  gives  the  following  list  of  his  publications: — "^4  Plea  for 

imrtmeiit  had  been  founded  in  1850.  The  number  of  students  matriculated  in  this  department,  for 
the  first  three  years,  was  as  follows: — First  session,  121;  second,  152;  third,  220.  There  has 
been  a  steady  increase  to  the  present  time,  when  it  has  risen  to  .above  400.  The  graduates  already 
ruind)er  (iCS).  The  number  of  law  students  we  are  not  able  to  give.  Cumberland  University,  at 
Lebanon,  hus  a  law  department,  under  the  instruction  of  Judges  Nathan  Green  and  Abram  Caru- 
ihers.  The  whole  number  of  students,  including  law  and  other  departments,  is  about  500.  We 
have  not  the  means  of  giving  a  full  and  exact  statement ;  but,  from  such  data  as  are  at  hand,  «e 
condense  the  following  tabular  summary,  which  can  not  be  far  from  the  truth,  and  will  be  sufficient 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  more  prominent  Tennessee  colleges,  and  of  the  progress  of  learning  in  that» 
whole  region,  net  to  mention  those  of  the  adjoining  states,  nor  the  numerous  seminaries  for  young 
ladies,  which  have  every  where  kept  pace  with  the  colleges.  Many  of  the  latter  have  in  a  great 
measure  been  modeled  after  the  old  Female  Academy,  at  Nashville,  which,  dating  back  almost  to 
ilie  origin  of  the  University,  and  having  an  average  attendance  of  three  or  four  hundred,  has  no 
dunbt  educated  more  young  ladies  than  any  institution  in  the  West. 

University  of  Nashville,  Rev.  J.  B.  Lindsley,  JVLJ).,  chancellor:  Classical  students,  104;  Medi- 
cal, 4:J6.    Total,  540.     Volumes  in  library,  9,066. 

Cumberland  University,  Kev.  T.  C.  Anderson,  D.  D.,  president:  Classical  students,  171  ;  Law, 
IH8;  Theology,  3;  Science,  6;  Preparatory,  94.     Total,  462.     Volumes,  4,000. 

U'nion  College,  at  Murfreesboro',  J.  H.  Eaton,  LL.  D.,  president:  Students,  160.  Volumes, 
4,500. 

.lacksou  College,  at  Columbia,  B.  F.  Mitchell,  president :  Students,  84.    Volumes,  4,400. 

Franklin  College,  near  Nashville,  T.  Fanning,  president:  Students,  106.     Volumes,  3,500. 

East  Tennessee  College,  at  Knoxville,  Rev.  W.  D.  Carnes,  president:  Alumni,  169.  Volumes, 
8,000. 

Besides  these,  the  lingraiige  College,  at  Lagrange,  only  about  two  years  old,  had  on  its  first  cata 
logue  113  students,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  John  H.  Gray,  D.  D.,  assisted  by  four  able  protess- 
ors  :  and,  still  more  recently,  the  Stewart  College,  at  Charksville,  with  a  completed  endowment  of 
$100,000,  has  gone  into  operation,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  R.  B.  McMullen,  D.  D.,  assisted  by 
tour  professors. 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 


23 


the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  (several  editions,)  1821;" 
'■'■Early  Piety  Recommended  in  a  sermon  delivered  in  the  college  chapel, 
Princeton,  1821  ;"  '■'■The  Duty  of  Observing  the  Sabbath  explained  and 
enforced  in  a  sermon  addressed  more  particular!}'  to  the  young,  1821  ; 
^^Improvement  of  Time — two  discourses  delivered  in  the  chapel  of  '' 
College  of  New  Jersey,  1822;"  "  yl  Fareivell  Sermon,  delivered  in 
the  chapel  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey',  1824  ;  "  "J/i  Address  at  his 
Inauguration  as  president  of  Cumberland  College,  1825;"  "The 
Cause  of  Education  in  Tennessee ; "  "  A  Baccalaureate  Address, 
1826;"  "A  Baccalaureate  Address,  1827;"  "A  Baccalaureate 
Address,  1829;"  "■  A  Bacculaiireate  Address,  1831  ;"  ''  A  Baccalau- 
reate Address,  1832  ;"  "  An  Address  on  the  Centennial  Birthday  of 
George  Washington,  1832;"  "A  Discourse  at  the  Installation  of 
the  Rev.  John  T.  Edgar,  Nashville,  1833  ;"  "-A  Baccalaureate,  en- 
titled '  Speech  in  behalf  of  the  University  of  Nashville,'  1837  ;"  ''A 
Lecture  an  Popular  Education,  1837  ;"  "A  Baccalaureate  Address, 
entitled  '  Speech  about  Colleges,'  1848."* 

Besides  these  he  wrote  various  articles  on  education  fur  the  public 
prints,  and  contrilnited  two  learned  and  able  papers  to  the  "Americati 
Biblical  Repository,'''  on  the  Primitive  State  of  Mankind,  which 
excited  much  attention  at  the  time  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 
Indeed  he  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  scholar  of  our  times  to 
take  the  ground,  which  has  since  become  so  common,  and  has  recent- 
ly been  so  ably  argued  in  Kitto's  '■'•Cyclopedia  of  Biblical  Literature,^' 
viz.,  that  man's  primeval  condition  was  not  that  of  a  savage,  but  a 
civilized  being.  Says  Dr.  Kitto,  (Art.  Antediluvians^  "  That  a  de- 
gree of  cultivation  was  the  primitive  condition  of  man,  from  which 
savageism  in  particular  quarters  was  a  degeneracy,  and  that  he  has 
not,  as  too  generally  has  been  supposed,  worked  himself  up  from  an 
original  savage  state  to  his  present  position,  has  been  powerfully  ar- 
gued by  Dr.  Lindsley,  and  is  strongly  corroborated  by  the  conclusions 
of  modern  ethnographical  research."  Indeed  we  find  Dr.  Lindslev 
"powerfully"  defending  this  view,  (for  it  was  a  fevorite  theme  with 
him,  which  he  held  with  all  the  tenacity  of  a  discoverer,)  not  only  in 
\\\Q '■'■  Biblical  Repository,"' hwt  as  far  back  as  1825,  in  his  inaugural 
address,  in  which  he  shows  that  the  old  infidel  idea  of  a  man's  being 

■  These  educational  discourses,  together  with  that  of  1850  on  the  "  Life  and  Character  of 
Ur.  Gerard  Troost,"  his  last  baccalaureate,  have  just  been  issued,  in  elegant  style,  from  the 
press  of  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  forming  an  octavo  of  588  pages.  It  is  the  first 
<if  a  series  of  volumes,  soon  to  follow,  containing  IJr.  Lindsley's  Complete  Works  and  a 
Biography.  This  first  of  the  scries  is  itself  a  noble  contribution  to  our  literature,  whether 
we  regard  it  as  a  compendium  of  strong,  original,  and  well  matured  views  on  the  great  sub- 
ject of  education,  or  as  the  actual,  connected  history  of  agiffed  mind  in  its  efforts  to  enlighten 
the  public.  No  educator  can  read  it  without  having  his  spirit  .stirred  to  new  zfal  in  his  high 
calling. 


24 


PIIII.IP  I.IXDSLEY. 


at  the  stait  a  sort  of  noble  savage  is  contradicted   alike  by   reason, 
revelation,  and  history. 

But  this  point  would  load  us  tuo  far  fi'oiii  our  present  purpose. 
Besides  these  publications,  Dr.  Lindsley  left  other  valuable  writings, 
in  carefully-prepared  manuscript,  bearing  on  the  same  general  topics 
discussed  in  those  already  mentioned.  The  writer  heard  many  of 
these  baccalaureate  and  other  addresses,  when  they  were  delivered, 
and  can  bear  witness  to  the  powerful  impression  which  they  produced. 
It  is  questionable  whether  any  man  in  our  country  has  ever  made 
more  of  the  baccalaureate  address,  and  done  a  more  effective  service 
with  it,  than  Dr.  Lindsley.  They  were  always  prepared  with  the  ut- 
most care,  and  charged  with  liis  maturest  and  weightiest  thoughts. 
They  were  generally  delivered  to  the  largest  audiences  ever  assembled 
in  Nashville — consisting  often  of  legislators,  judges,  professional  gen- 
tlemen fi'om  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  the  very  elite  of  the  city.  He 
had  made  it  a  point  in  the  start  never  to  speak  in  public  till  he  liad 
something  to  say,  and  was  fully  prepared  to  say  it.  And  such  was 
his  reputation,  after  a  few  efforts  of  this  kind,  that  both  in  the  college 
and  the  city,  the  baccalaureate  was  looked  forward  to  as  the 
great  occasion  of  the  year.  He  seemed  never  so  much  in  his  true 
element  as  on  the  commencement  stage.  And  he  came  forth  on  these 
occasions,  and  delivered  this  heavy  artillery  of  learning  and  eloquence 
with  much  of  the  power  and  success  exhibited  by  our  ablest  states- 
men in  their  set  speeches  in  Congress.  There  was  in  tact  scarcely 
any  one  instrumentality  employed  by  Dr.  Lindsley,  during  his  whole 
career  at  Nashville,  through  which  he  seemed  to  exert  a  deeper, 
wider,  and  more  wholesome  influence  on  the  public  mind  than  these 
addresses.  They  were  for  the  most  part  published  in  pamphlet  form, 
and  some  of  them  passed  through  several  editions.  Thus  heard  and 
read  by  the  leading  men  of  Tennessee,  and  incorporated,  as  so  much 
established  truth,  into  the  living  thought  of  all  his  pupils,  they 
were  reproduced  in  a  thousand  different  forms,  and  became  part  and 
parcel  of  the  public  sentiment  in  all  the  educated  circles  of  the  state. 

And  they  were  well  deserving  of  the  honor.     We  have  just  now 
had  occasion  to  read  most  of  them  over  again,  after  the  lapse  of 
many  years.     xVnd  we  have  been   more  than  ever  impressed  with 
their  wisdom  and  beauty.     We  know  not  where  to  find,  in  the  same 
compass,  within  our  whole  range  of  reading,  so  much  sound  doctrine, 
wise  counsel,  and  soul-stirring  sentiment,  on  the  subject  of  the  educa 
tion  of  the  young.     There  are  some  persons  who  look  with  disparage 
ment  upon  our  pamphlet  literature,  and  shrink,  with  a  sort  of  digni 
fied  contempt,  from  the  idea  of  a  great  man's  burying  himself  in  a 
pamphlet,  as  the  common  saying  is.     But  no  man  can  read  the  pam- 


PHIMP  I.INDSI.RY.  25 

plilet  addresses  of  l)r.  Liiidsley — especially  if  lie  had  ever  had  the 
good  fortune  to  see  and  hear  him  in  the  delivery  of  one  of  theiu — 
without  feeling  that  they  were,  in  liis  hands,  a  powerful  engine  of 
doing  good.  If  he  liad  spent  liis  life  in  writing  large  and  learned 
books,  he  could  doubtless  have  filled  a  wider  sphere  and  gained  a 
more  extended  fame ;  but  we  have  no  idea  that  he  could  ever  thus 
have  reached  and  indoctrinated  the  leading  minds  of  Tennessee,  as  he 
did  by  tliese  apparently  ephemeral  but  really  effective  spoken  and 
published  addresses.  We  consider  his  example,  in  this  respect,  wor- 
thy of  all  praise  and  all  imitation  on  the  part  of  those  who,  called  to 
the  presidency  of  ouj;  struggling  colleges,  will  find  it  necessary,  not 
only  to  supply  tlie  demand  for  instruction  witliin  the  college-walls, 
but  continually  to  create  a  demand  for  that  supply  without,  by  inspir- 
ing the  people  with  enthusiasm  for  learning,  and  indoctrinating  them 
into  large  and  liberal  views  of  the  subject. 

By  these  annual  tracts  on  education,  containing  the  condensed  re- 
sults of  his  own  reflection,  reading,  and  experience,  fraught  with  the 
living  spirit  of  his  own  burning  enthusiasm  for  knowledge,  and  sent 
forth  with  the  liigh  indorsement  of  his  acknowledged  scholarship,  lie 
gave  a  dignity  to  the  teacher's  office  in  Tennessee,  and  elevated  the 
whole  standard  of  popular  instruction  in  the  South  West,  to  an  ex- 
tent whicli  is  none  the  less  real  and  salutary  because  it  was  done  so 
gradually  that  the  public  mind,  even  to  this  day,  is  scarcely  conscious 
of  the  change,  or  to  whom  it  is  most  indebted  for  the  elevating  influ- 
ence. By  this  we  do  not  mean  to  affirm  that  Dr.  Lindsley  did  all  the 
work  alone ;  nor  to  detract  aught  from  the  valuable  services  of  his 
coadjutors  and  predecessors.  There  were  men  before  him  at  Nasli- 
ville,  preparing  materials  for  the  temple  of  learning,  even  in  the 
wilderness :  as  the  well-known  and  honored  names  of  Priestly  and 
Hume  can  bear  witness.  And  there  were  men  with  him  at  Nash- 
\ille — men  worthy  of  their  high  calling,  and  master-builders,  each  in 
his  several  department — who  stood  by  him  and  nobly  seconded  all  his 
efforts:  such  men  as  Troost,  and  IFamilton,  and  Thomson,  and  Cross, 
whose  names  will  long  remain  as  a  tower  of  strength  in  Tennessee. 
But  what  we  mean  to  say  is,  that  Dr.  Lindsley,  from  the  time  he  set 
foot  in  Xashville,  was  the  mainspring  of  the  movement — the  master- 
spirit of  the  great  work  of  liberal  and  popular  education.  The  very 
fact  that  he  gathered  around  him,  and  through  all  embarrassment 
and  discouragement  ever  kept  at  his  side,  a  corps  of  instructors  fully 
equal  to  any  in  our  countr}',  is  ])roof  itself  of  the  important  part  we 
have  ascribed  to  him.  The  fact  that  literary  and  scientific  men,  and 
many  eminent  teachers,  attracted  by  his  influence,  soon  found  tlieir 
way  to  Tennessee — that  rare  and  costly  standard  works,  and  book- 


2g  PHI  UP  LINDSLEY. 

stores  on  a  scale  not  then  known  any  wliere  else  in  tlie  West,  began 
to  be  mnltiplied  at  Nashville — is  additional  proof  of  it.  Certain  it  i;; 
tliat,  under  his  leadership,  there  was  an  influence  exerted  and  a  work 
done  which  to  this  day  could  not  have  been  realized,  unless  indeed 
Go<l  had  raised  up  some  other  leader  of  like  spirit  and  ability, 

V.       HIS    VIEWS    AND    OPINIONS    AS    AN    EDUCATOR. 

It  would  be  impossible,  within  the  compass  of  this  article,  to  give 
any  thing  like  a  full  and  exhaustive  statement  of  Dr.  Lindsley's  most 
cherislied  principles,  maxims,  and  methods,  as  a  practical  teacher. 
This  in  fact  would  be  almost  to  reproduce  his  whole  published  and 
unpublished  writings.  Still  it  is  due  to  any  thing  like  a  complete 
memoir  of  the  man,  that  we  should  attempt,  at  least,  some  brief 
account  of  those  views  ami  opinions  which  he  held  with  so  much 
tenacity  and  defended  with  so  much  abilit}'. 

We  may  notice  first  his  exaltal  conception  of  the  teacliei-'s  vocation. 
No  man  could  well  liave  a  higher  estimate  of  its  importance.  And 
no  man  perhaps  in  our  country,  certainly  none  in  the  West,  ever  did 
more,  both  by  precept  and  example,  to  honor  and  magnify  the  office. 
Tn  his  inaugural  address  he  says  : — 

I  fearlessly  put  the  question  to  any  man  of  liberal  feelings  and  .sound  judgment, 
and  I  challenge  him  to  assign  even  a  plausible  pretext  for  thus  degrading  a  teacher 
to  the  level  of  a  drudge,  or  for  employing  none  but  those  who  are  content  to  be 
drudges,  and  who  are  fit  for  no  higher  rank  in  society.  If  there  be  one  vocation 
more  important  to  tlie  community  than  any  other,  or  than  all  others,  it  is  that  of 
the  instructor  of  youth.  Every  such  man  deserves  well  of  his  country,  and  is 
more  justly  entitled  to  her  lasting  gratitude  than  multitudes  of  those  whom  she 
most  delights  to  honor.  Our  country  needs  seminaries  purposely  to  train  up  and 
qualify  young  men  for  the  profession  of  teaching.  We  have  our  theological  sem- 
inaries, our  medical  and  law  schools,  which  receive  the  graduates  of  our  colleges, 
and  fit  them  for  their  respective  professions.  And  whenever  the  profession  of 
teaching  shall  be  duly  honored  and  appreciated,  it  is  not  doubted  but  that  it  will 
receive  similar  attention,  and  be  favored  with  equal  advantages.  I  again  repeat, 
regardless  of  all  prejudices  and  defying  all  rational  contradiction,  that  in  a  repub- 
lic, where  knowledge  is  the  soul  of  liberty,  no  profession  ought  to  be  more  gener- 
ously cherished,  honored,  and  rewarded  than  that  of  the  worthy  instructor  of 
youth. 

In  this  connection  we  cite  Dr.  Lindsley's  early  advocacy  of  normal 
schools  or  teachers'  seminaries^  from  the  same  address. 

Though  the  idea  perhaps  may  be  novel  to  some  persons,  yet  the  propriety  and 
importance  of  such  a  provision  will  scarcely  be  questioned  by  any  competent 
judges.  The  Seminarium  Philologicum  of  the  late  celebrated  Heyne,  at  Got- 
tingen,  though  a  private  institution  in  the  midst  of  a  great  university,  furnished 
to  the  continent  of  Europe,  during  a  period  of  nearly  half  a  century,  many  of  its 
most  eminent  and  successful  classical  professors  and  teachers.     *     *.    * 

At  present,  the  great  mass  of  our  teachers  are  mere  adventurers — either  young 
men  who  are  looking  forward  to  some  less  laborious  and  more  respectable  voca- 
tion, and  who,  of  course,  have  no  ambition  to  excel  in  the  business  of  teaching, 
and  no  motive  to  exertion  but  inmiediate  and  temporary  relief  from  pecuniary 
embarrassment;  or  men  who  despair  of  doing  better,  or  who  have  failed  in  other 
pursuits,  or  who  are  wandering  from  place  to  place,  teaching  a  year  here  and  a 
year  there,  and  gathering  up  what  they  can  from  the  ignorance  and  credulity  of 


Pini.IP  L1NDSI,E\. 


27 


their  eniplojers.  Thai  there  are  many  worthy  exceptiwiis  to  tlii.s  Hweepiiig  sen- 
tence is  clieerrully  adniitteih  That  wo  liave  some  well-quahtied  anil  most  deserv- 
ing instructors  we  are  proud  to  acknowledge — and  as  large  a  proportion  probably 
in  this  section  of  our  country  as  in  the  older  states.  Still,  tlie  number  is  compar- 
atively small  ;  and  the  wliole  subject  demands  the  most  serious  attention  of  the 
good  people  of  this  connnunity. 

Now,  it  is  soiiictiines  the  f;itiliiun  to  adiiiit  all  this  in  theory  and 
behe  it  in  practice.  But  Dr.  Lindsley  here  practiced  what  he 
preaclied.  He  carried  tlie  sacred  dignity  of  tlie  teaclier's  high  calling 
into  all  the  walk  and  conversation  of  life,  lie  acknowledged  no  su- 
periority ill  mortal  man  over  his  own  work.  And,  in  all  his  public 
efforts,  as  also  in  all  his  social  intercourse,  he  threw  such  a  fascination 
around  the  work  of  education  as  to  make  every  m;in,  woman,  and 
child,  that  came  in  contact  with  him,  feel  that  it  was  a  noble,  honor- 
able, glorious,  nay,  even  divine  thing  to  be  a  teacher  of  youth.  It 
was  under  the  deep  and  solemn  inipression  of  this  sentiitient  tliat  he 
uttered  the  following  weighty  and  eloquent  words,  at  the  close  of  the 
inaugural  just  named. 

When  I  consider  tlie  value  of  a  single  individual  in  reference  to  this  life,  and 
still  more  in  reference  to  a  future  world,  and  that  his  character  and  his  destiny 
may  be  fixed  forever  in  this  seminary,  I  involuntarily  shrink  from  the  awful  charge. 
What  then  must  be  the  sensation  created  by  the  contemplation  of  the  hundreds 
and  the  thousands  who  will  here  imbibe  those  principles,  and  acquire  those  habits, 
which  must  i-ender  them  blessings  or  curses,  to  themselves  and  to  the  world  .' 
Who  is  sufKcient  for  these  things  ?  No  unassisted  mortal,  assuredly.  To  God 
we  must  lunnbly  and  devoutly  look — to  the  infinite  Fountain  of  grace  and  wisdom  I 
must  continually  look — to  the  Eternal  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift  we 
must  all  look,  for  that  support  and  direction  which  we  so  eminently  need. 

We  notice  next  his  favorite  opinion  that  education  is  the  rightful 
inheritance  of  every  human  being,  and  ought  to  be  sought  not  merely 
as  the  means  of  making  a  livelihood,  but  as  a  great  good  in  itself. 
He  denounced  the  narrow  and  selfish  cui  bono  principle,  when  applied 
to  education,  as  a  lieresy  originating  in  the  feudal  ages,  when  men 
thought  that  none  but  gentlemen  of  wealth  and  leisure,  or  the 
learned  professions,  needed  a  liberal  education.  He  held  that  men 
ought  to  be  educated,  to  the  extent  of  their  opportunities,  because 
God  had  endowed  them  with  minds  capable  of  being  improved  and 
made  happy  by  knowledge  ;  and,  hence,  that  education  was  the  gi-eat 
equalizer  of  society,  and  the  special  heritage  of  the  poor.  He  con- 
tended that  every  individual,  who  wished  to  rise,  or  wished  his  child 
to  rise,  above  the  level  of  the  mere  laborer  at  task-work,  ought  to  en- 
deavor to  obtain  a  liberal  education  ;  that,  as  man  was  an  intellectual, 
moral,  and  immortal  being,  so  all  his  noblest  faculties  ought  to  be 
cultivated,  independently  of  the  sordid  motive  or  prospect  of  pecuni- 
ary gain.  "  Educate  your  son,"  said  he,  "  in  the  best  possible  manner, 
because  you  expect  him  to  be  a  MAN,  and  not  a  horse  or  an  ox.  You 
can  not  tell  what  good  he  may  achieve  or  what  important  offices  he 


28  PHILIP  I.IiNDSLEY. 

may  discharge  in  his  day.  For  aught  vuii  know,  he  may,  it"  you  do 
your  duty  by  him,  become  the  jtresident  of  the  United  States.  At 
any  rate  he  lias  reason  and  understanding,  \vhi(;h  ought  to  be  cuUi- 
vated  for  their  own  sake.  Besides,  learning  is  itself  a  treasure — an 
estate — of  which  no  adverse  fortune  can  ever  deprive  its  possessor. 
It  will  accompany,  and  console,  and  support  him  to  the  world's  end, 
and  to  the  close  of  life."  There  was  no  theme  which  he  loved  more 
Uian  this.  And  never  did  he  appear  more  earnest,  eloquent,  and  con- 
vincing than  when  pleading  for  collegiate  education  as  essential  to  all 
popular  education,  and  popular  education  as  essential  to  the  very  sal- 
vation of  our  country.  "  None  but  the  eneniies  of  the  people,"  said 
he,  "  will  ever  gravely  maintain  that  a  common  school  education,  in 
the  ordinary  meaning  of  the  phrase,  is  all  they  need.  This  would  be 
virtually  telling  them  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water 
under  political  ta.skmasters  forever."  And  he  never  ceased  to  hold  up 
the  college,  or  that  learning  of  which  the  college  is  the  exponent,  as 
being,  through  all  past  history,  the  staunchest  defender  of  the  liberty 
of  the  people,  the  truest  friend  and  benefactor  of  the  children  of  the 
poor. 

xAnother  .settled  opinion  of  Dr.  Lindsley,  analogous  to  this,  was 
that  the  college  or  unicersity  is  essential  to  the  existence  of  ant/  thing 
like  a  perfect  system  of  2irimary  or  common  school  edncution.  With- 
out this  higher  learning,  acting  as  a  stimulus  to  all  other  departments 
of  knowledge,  and  leading  the  van  of  popular  imjirovement,  it  is  im- 
possible to  create  any  general  demand  for  education  among  the  people, 
or  to  supply  it  with  adequate  teachers,  even  if  it  existed.  The  stream 
can  not  rise  higher  than  the  fountain,  nor  the  day  be  brighter  than 
its  sun.  To  talk  of  the  common  education  of  any  people,  without 
this  higher  collegiate  education — ever  pouring  abroad  its  fertilizing 
waters,  or  shining  down  like  a  sun  in  mid-heaven — would  be  like  ini- 
gating  a  country  with  a  fountain  lower  than  the  land,  or  creating  a 
day  without  any  sun. 

As  education  extends,  tlic  de.sire  and  demand  for  it  incuease.  AVlioever  licard 
of  a  liberally  educated  man,  who  was  not  the  hearty,  devoted  supporter  of  every 
judicious  common  school  system  1  Such  an  anomaly  our  country  lias  not  yet  pro- 
duced. Our  most  illustrious  patriots  and  sages  have  been  the  founders  of  colleges 
and  apostles  in  the  cause  of  universal  education.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  utter  a 
syllable  in  opposition  to  primary  schools.  They  are  indispensable — and  ought  to 
je  found  in  every  neighborhood.  But  the  best  mode  of  encouraging  and  multi- 
plying these  is  carefully  to  foster  the  higher  seminaries ;  because  the  latter  must, 
or  ought  to,  furnish  teachers  to  the  former.  The  greater  the  number  of  liberally 
educated  in  any  country  the  better  the  chance  of  obtaining  suitable  instructors  for 
the  inferior  institutions.  In  this  way  the  state  would  soon  be  supplied  with  accom- 
plished schoolmasters.  For  be  it  known  and  remembered  that  nowhere  on  earth 
does  there  e.xist  a  good  and  eflicient  system  of  common  schools,  except  where 
colleges  and  universities  are  most  generously  cherished,  and  where  the  largest 
number  of  poor  youths  are  found  among  their  alumni.     These  become  teachers 


FHIl.ll'  I.INUSLKY. 


29 


of  necessity.  This  is  ;i  matter  u(  l;iot,  of  univcisal  exiKrieiici.',  and  the  iniwt  in- 
genious special  pleader  in  behalf  of  popular  eilueatioii  can  not  eite  an  exceptimi 
to  the  rule.  The  truth  is,  the  eaii.-^o  of  oollej^a's  ami  of  schools  of  all  sorts  is  one 
and  indivisible.  And  he  who  shoul.l  attempt  to  establish  good  eomnion  schools, 
without  colleges,  would  be  compelled  to  import  a  monthly  cargo  of  foreign  teach- 
ers, or  stand  before  the  public  a  convicted  Utopian  visionary. 

Still  more  emphatically  does  he  express  this  view  in  the  groat 
speech  of  1837. 

1  hold  the  attempt  to  create  and  foster  common  schools  without  the  aid  of 
the  university  to  be  utterly  vain  and  nugatory.  It  can  not  be  done.  Hut  estab- 
lish an  efficient,  free-working  university,  any  where — whether  among  the  Turks, 
the  Tartars,  or  the  Hottentots — and  the  connnon  school  will  spontaneously  grow 
up  around  it,  and  beneath  its  influence:  as  certainly  as  light  and  heat  flow  from 
the  sun  in  the  firmament.  The  common  school  is  the  child  and  not  the  parent, 
the  efteel  and  not  the  cause,  of  the  university. 

So  also,  ill  his  lecture  on  popular  education,  of  the  same  year,  he 
says  :— 

The  best  and  speediest  mode  of  enlightening  a  community,  is  to  provide  ac- 
complished teachers  for  the  children  and  youth  of  such  a  community.  One 
brilliant,  blazing  SUN  in  the  firmament  will  shed  around  and  beneath  inHnitely 
more  light  than  a  thousand  twinkling  stars.  Plant  a  noble  univei-sity  in  our 
midst,  and  from  its  portals  will  issue  streams  of  cheering  light  upon  every  daik 
corner  of  the  land.  AVJiereas,  if  you  are  content  to  get  up  a  few  scores  of  old- 
field  schools,  that  is  of  mere  farthing  candles  or  feeble  rush-lights,  at  various  dis- 
tant points  in  the  wilderness,  you  will  but  render  the  darkness  more  visible  and 
lepulsive.  No  country  was  ever  enliglitened  or  elevated  by  sucli  a  process. 
Light  flows  only  from  the  sun.  The  moon  and  the  stars  do  but  reflect  and  diffuse 
the  luster  derived  from  this  original  fountain. 

Home  education  was  always  a  favorite  idea  with  Dr.  Liiidsley. 
He  held  that  every  family  ought  to  be  a  school  :  that  the  family  fire- 
side was  the  first  and  most  important  of  all  schools;  the  jiarent  the 
tiist  and  best  of  all  teachers.  This  is  the  true  infant  school.  In  his 
lecture  on  popular  education,  we  find  this  view  presented  with 
much  earnestness  and  ability. 

To  distinguish  this  from  the  common  school  pystein,  I  liavc  heretofore,  on 
divers  occasions,  denominate«]  it  the  social  or  domestic  system  of  education. 
And  while  it  seems  singularly  adapted  to  the  wants  and  condition  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  poor  and  ignorant,  the  wealthier  and  more  cultivated  classes  may 
avail  themselves  of  its  benefits  also.  Might  not  the  domestic  system,  in  its  stiiet- 
est  sense,  be  made  to  supersede  tlie  public  coiimion  school  system  altogether  ? 
Why  should  a  little  child  ever  be  sent  to  school,  who  has  a  mother  at  home  ca- 
pable of  teaching.  A  mother  who  can  teach,  and  who  possesses  the  genuine 
spirit  of  maternity,  is  always  tlie  best  possible  instructress  of  her  cliildren,  until 
they  reach  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve.  She  can  teach  them  all  that  is  expected 
from  a  common  school  infinitely  better  than  any  schoolmaster.  This  she  might 
do  without  interfering  with  the  business  or  comforts  of  a  well-ordered  domestic 
establishment.  Children  ought  never  to  be  closely  confined  at  an  age  when  they 
can  not  study.  Do  young  children  study  while  constrained  to  .sit.  book  in  hand, 
through  fear  of  the  birch,  during  six  long  hours,  upon  a  bench  (and  such  a 
6encA.')  at  school  ?  They  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  study  ;  and,  of  cour.se, 
must  either  go  to  sleep  or  passively  submit  to  llie  daily  irks.)me  and  stupifying 
penance  of  doing  nothing.  At  home,  and  un<ler  the  eye  of  their  mother,  they 
can  play,  or  work,  or  receive  instruction,  as  she  directs,  ami  as  best  suits  their 
years,  capacity,  and  disposition.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  schools  for  boy.s 
under  twelve  years  of  age,  with  which  T  have  been   acquainted  in  the  course  of 


30 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 


my  litV',  1  would  not  hesitate  td  denounce  as  nuisances  and  impositions.  1  have 
seen  them  in  cverj-  part  of  our  coui}tiy,  from  Maine  to  Tennessee  •,  and  I  feel 
confident  that  most  parents  miiiht,  if  they  would,  form  a  domestic  school  at  home, 
a  thousand-fold  preferable  to  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred,  on  an  average,  of  the 
whole  numbei'  of  common  schools  in  tlic  Ihiited  States  at  tliis  moment.  Such 
has  been  my  lionest,  delib^'rate,  and  avowed  opinion  for  many  years  past. 

Aiiutlier  groat  doctrine,  wliicli  lie  never  ceased  to  urge,  was  the 
usefulness  of  all  learnlny,  primary  and  i)rofe.ssional,  literary  and 
scientific,  sacred  and  secular,  English  and  classical.  Regarding  edu- 
cation as  the  best  fortune  a  parent  could  give  a  child,  he  held  that 
nu  labor  or  expense  should  be  spared  in  its  attainment.  He  held  that 
life  was  a  great  school,  in  which  it  was  never  too  late  to  learn  some- 
thing :  that  in  school  and  college  we  only  learned  hoio  to  learn,  and 
that  we  should  ever  live  to  learn.  As  life  is  given  for  improvement 
and  usefulness,  so  our  youth  should  not  be  hurried  too  rapidly  over 
their  studies.  "Let  us  not  seek  to  make  children  youth,  and  youth 
men,  and  men  lawyers,  ])hysicians,  cleigymen,  or  politicians,  too  fast. 
Let  us  ket'p  our  pupils  at  their  proper  work,  and  carry  them  as  far  as 
they  can  safely  and  surely  go,  and  no  further.  Better  teach  them 
one  thing  well  than  twenty  things  imperfectly.  Their  education  will 
then  be  valuable  as  far  as  it  extends."  In  his  baccalaureate  of  1848, 
when  speaking  of  the  prevailing  evils  in  our  American  colleges,  he 
says: — "In  two  words,  om*  lads  enter  college  too  young,  and  without 
due  preparation.  They  ought  seldom,  if  ever,  to  graduate  under 
twenty  years ;  and,  consequently,  should  not  enter  the  freshman  or 
lowest  class  younger  than  sixteen.  Up  to  this  period  ample  work 
might  be  provided  for  them  in  the  |irimai'y  and  classical  school,  or  by 
the  parental  fireside.  Lot  them  be  thoroughly  drilled  in  Greek  and 
Latin — in  arithhietic,  algebra,  geometry,  geography — in  one  or  more 
modern  languages,  when  practicable — at  all  events,  in  the  English,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  speak  and  write  their  own  vernacular  with  grammat- 
ical accuracy  and  idiomatic  propriety." 

Probably  no  educator  in  our  country  ever  set  a  higher  estimate 
uj)on  the  value  of  the  ancient  classics,  as  a  part  of  edncaiion,  than 
Dr.  Lindsley.  Certainly  none  ever  read  them  with  a  keener  relish, 
or  taught  them  with  a  higher  enthusiasm.  It  would  have  been 
enough  to  have  filled  the  soul  of  Homer,  Plato,  or  Tully  with  a 
glow  of  honest  and  patriotic  pride,  could  tliey  have  come  back  and 
heard  their  immortal  pages  read  and  exi)ounded  by  one  who  seemed 
to  give  utterance  to  their  matchless  music  Avith  all  the  acctiracy  and 
emphasis  of  his  mother-tongue.  He  maintained  that  there  could  be 
now  no  finished  scholarship  and  no  thorough  mental  discipline  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  the  mathematics,  languages,  and  sciences. 
"Classical  learning,"  said  he,  "is  so  interwoven  with  the  very  texture 


I 


PHIMP  I.IXDSI.EY. 


01 


of  modern  science,  literature,  an.l  language,  that  it  is  vain  to  oxiiol-I 
scliolarsliip  without  it,  and  ei[ually  vain  for  ignorjinco  and  prejudico 
nny  longer  to  denounce  it.''  As  a  teacher  of  the  classics,  lie  re.juin'd 
of  the  pupil  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  grammar,  and  the  most  mi- 
nute and  accurate  acquaintance  with  all  tla-  forms,  inllcctions,  and 
niceties  of  the  language.  This  verbal  study  alone  could  prepan-  tin- 
way  for  a  full  appreciation  of  the  rich  treasures  of  thought  and  h.-au- 
ty  that  lay  hidden  in  the  classic  tongues.  Indeed  this  was  his  modi' 
of  instruction  in  every  department.  Accuracy — absolute  and  unhe>i- 
tating  accuracy — was  the  grand  characteristic  of  liis  own  schularshi]> : 
and  be  required  his  pupils  not  only  to  learn  a  given  lesson,  but  In 
know  that  they  knew  It.  It  was  a  maxim  with  liim  that  there  was 
nothing  worthy  of  being  done,  and  nothing  worthy  of  being  known, 
that  was  not  worthy  of  being  known  and  done  well,  lie  liad  no 
manner  of  patience  with  the  smatterer,  and  the  mere  guesser  at 
knowledge,  or  the  man  who  nndertook  to  do  wliat  he  had  never 
learned.  "No  man,"  said  he,  "can  teach  more  than  he  knows  him- 
self. Every  man  can  teacli  all  that  he  does  know.  The  more  he 
knows,  the  more  useful  he  will  be."  Whilst  he  despised  the  quack 
and  the  pretender,  no  man  ever  went  beyond  him  in  profound  respect 
for  all  real  knowledge — whether  that  knowledge  was  to  shoe  a  horse, 
or  amputate  a  leg,  or  teach  a  boy  hie,  hiec,  hoc. 

In  accordance  with  sentiments  such  as  these,  we  hear  him  address- 
ing his  first  graduates  in  1S20  in  the  following  terms  of  paternal  and 
wholesome  counsel. 

Young  Gentlemen  : — Your  acaJcmical  career  is  now  ended  ;  and  you  have 
just  received  the  usual  honors  and  testimonials  of  this  institution.  According  to 
the  opinion  which  too  generally  prevails,  you  have  completed  your  studies.  This 
I  am  persuaded  is  not  your  own  opinion.  You  have  already  made  a  justor  esti- 
mate of  your  attainments,  and  of  the  vast  and  variegated  field  for  future  investi- 
gation which  still  lies  hefore  you,  and  wliich  invites  your  assiduous  cultivation. 
If  you  have  learned  hoto  to  study,  and  have  acquired  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  you 
will  continue  to  study  and  to  learn  while  you  live  This  indeed  is  tiie  grand  aim 
and  object  of  all  elementary  education.  It  is  to  discipline  the  mind,  to  develop 
faculty,  to  mature  the  judgment,  to  refine  the  taste,  to  chasten  the  moral  sense, 
to  awaken  and  invigorate  intellectual  energy,  and  to  furnish  tlie  rci|uisite  mate- 
rials upon  which  to  erect  the  noblest  superstructure.  Jlitherto  ynu  iiavc  been 
laying  the  foundation,  and  serving  that  kind  of  apprenticeship,  which  may  en- 
able you  to  march  forward  by  your  own  diligent  and  persevering  ert()rts.  1  )o 
not  imagine  therefore  that  your  woik  is  done.  You  have  only  commenced  your 
studies.  Whatever  may  be  your  future  profession,  pursuit,  business,  or  destina- 
tion, let  books,  science,  and  literature  be  your  constant  companions.  Every  man. 
who  intends  to  do  the  greatest  possible  good  in  his  day  and  generation,  will 
every  day  seek  to  acquire  additional  information,  lie  will  gather  it  from  every 
source  within  his  reach.  His  experience,  his  observation,  his  intereour.se  w  ith  the 
world  with  men  and  tilings,  his  daily  occupations,  his  incidental  assoei.ations,  tlie 
great  volume  of  nature  ever  open  and  spread  out  to  his  view,  tlie  intellectual 
treasures  of  a  hundred  generations  which  have  passed  away,  tlie  reconls  of 
heavenly  truth  and  wisdom — all  will  conspire  to  increase  his  slorts.  and  to  qual- 
ify him  for  a  greater  and  a  wider  sjihere  of  useful  and  virtuous  exertion.  All  the 
great  and  good  men,  who  have  enlightened,  adorned,  ;ind  purified  the  worlil  by 


32 


PHILIP  LINDSI.EY. 


their  labors  iiiid  their  counsels,  have  been  indefatigable  in  the  pursuit  of  knowl- 
tdwc,  up  to  the  last  moment  of  their  existence.  Despise  not,  neglect  not,  any 
department  of  liiimaii  learning,  whenever  and  wherever  it  can  be  consistently 
cultivated.  No  man  ever  denounces  as  useless  or  superfluous  any  science  or  lan- 
guage with  which  he  is  himself  acquainted.  The  ignorant  only  condemn  ;  and 
they  condemn  what  they  do  not  understand,  and  because  they  do  not  undeistand 
it.  "  Whenever,  therefore,  you  hear  a  man  declaiming  against  any  literary  or 
scientific  pur.suit,  you  may  rest  assured  that  he  knows  nothing  of  the  matter ; 
and  you  will  need  no  better  evidence  of  his  total  incompetency  to  sit  in  judgment 
upon  the  case. 

Wc  notice  next  liis  views  as  to  tlie  government  and  disc'q)Une  of 
youth  in  college.  His  settled  conviction  was  that  peiyetiiol  vif/ilonce 
on  tlie  jiart  of  tlie  teaclier,  and  constant  employment  on  the  part  of 
the  pupil,  were  alike  essential  in  college-life.  This  he  denominated 
the  parental  and  domestic  system.  In  the  inaugural  address  his 
views  on  this  point  are  thus  stated  : — "  That  system  which  should 
provide  complete  employment  of  a  proper  kind  for  all  the  time  of 
every  individual,  would  in  my  opinion  be  the  best  system,  and  might 
perhaps  be  fairly  denominated  a  perfect  system.  And  every  approxi- 
mation to  it  will,  to  the  same  extent,  be  an  approach  to  perfection  in 
this  all-important  concern.  Keep  youth  busy  and  you  keep  them  out 
of  harm's  way.  You  render  them  contented,  virtuous,  and  happy. 
In  general  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  government  of  a  college 
ought  to  be,  as  far  as  practicable,  strictly  parental.  Every  instructor 
ought  to  conduct  toward  liis  pupils,  and  to  be  esteemed  by  them,  as 
a  father  or  ehler  brother.  They  ought  to  regard  him  as  their  best 
friend,  and  to  confide  in  him  as  such.  Wherever  this  mutual  confi- 
dence and  aftectionate  intercourse  do  not  obtain,  the  connection  will 
neither  be  happv  nor  beneficial."  On  a  subsequent  occasion,  in  the 
baccalaureate  of  1829,  he  brings  out  this  view  still  more  emphatic- 
ally. "  From  my  own  humble  experience  in  the  business  of  educa- 
tion, and  from  all  the  information  which  I  have  been  able  to  procure 
on  the  subject,  I  do  believe  that  the  only  efficient  system  for  the  com- 
plete attainment  of  every  desirable  end,  is  that  which  kee2is  youth 
constantly  employed,  body  and  mind,  and  which  exercises  nnceasing 
vigilance  and  absolute  control  day  and  night — which  excludes  all  vi- 
cious and  vitiating  associates  and  practices — which  superintends  all 
the  amusements  and  social  intercourse  of  the  pupils — and  which,  con- 
sequently, requires  strong  walls  and  numerous  guards,  or  a  large 
body  of  faithful,  prudent,  devoted  mentors,  to  counsel,  direct,  restrain, 
and  instruct  them  at  all  times,  in  all  places,  and  under  all  circum- 
stances.'' 

He  adds,  liowever,  that  he  has  no  expectation  of  ever  seeing  such 
a  system  put  into  operation  :  first,  because  the  expense  would  be  ob- 
jected to  by  a  people  who  can  aftbrd  money  for  every  fashionable 
folly  and  extravagance  ;  and,  secondly,  its  strictness,  however  parental 


I'HII.IP  I.INDSI.EV.  j^g 

and  salutary,  would  be  coinplaincd  of  by  a  people  who  scarcely  sulj- 
ject  their  children  to  any  restraint  whatever.  Dr.  Lindsley  delivered 
some  of  his  ablest  appeals  in  favor  of  university  education  about  tlie 
time  that  Tennessee  and  many  of  our  states  began  to  inau^urale 
their  costly  penitentiary  systems.  He  not  unfrequently  alluded  to 
this  fact,  while  pleading  for  the  education  of  the  people  as  the  best 
and  cheapest  method  of  i)reventing  crime.  In  view  of  the  lavisji  ex- 
penditure of  the  state  in  building  costly  palaces  for  the  comfortabK- 
safe-keeping  of  her  culprits,  which  he  called  the  bir/  stale  iiniversili/ — 
and  her  unwillingness  to  give  a  dollar  to  provide  for  the  education  of 
her  own  noble  sons — he  used  sometimes  to  pour  out  the  vials  of  his 
keen  sarcasm  and  invective  after  the  following  style : — 

Give  to  the  colleges  at  Nashville  and  Knoxville  an  organization  similar  to  the 
Auburn  prison — so  far,  I  mean,  as  regards  the  safe-keeping,  moral  diseipline, 
healthful  exercise,  and  constant  employment  of  their  inmates,  and  their  absolute 
exclusion  from  all  external  evil  influences — and  bestow  upon  each  of  them  only  a 
moiety  of  the  sum  which  Pennsylvania  has  already  expended  upon  the  outer  yard- 
walls  of  but  one  of  her  incipient  penitentiaries — (said  walls  have  cost  $200,0t)IJ) — 
and  they  shall  render  the  state  more  service  in  twenty  years  than  all  the  prisons 
of  Pennsylvania  will  achieve  in  a  thousand  ages,  or  than  a  score  of  penitentiaries 
will  effect  in  Tennessee  to  the  end  of  time.  And  yet.  probably,  before  the  lapse 
of  fifty  years,  half  a  million  of  dollars  will  be  expended,  and  with  the  best  inten- 
tions too,  by  tiiis  state,  agreeably  to  the  prevailing  fashion,  upon  such  estjiblish- 
menfs  for  the  comfortable  accommodation  of  a  few  hundred  criminals,  who  have 
forfeited  all  claim  to  public  indulgence,  and  certainly  to  the  public  pur^e— who 
ought  to  be  punished,  not  rewarded. 

Dr.  Lindsley  lield  the  opinion — contrary  to  the  views  of  many  emi- 
nent educators  in  our  country — that  a  larpe  tow?i  or  city  is  greatly  to 
be  preferred,  for  the  scat  of  a  college  or  university,  to  a  small  town  or 
village.  We  need  not  here  stop  to  point  out  the  reasons  which  he 
assigns  for  this  opinion — such  as  the  presence  of  literary  and  scien 
tific  men,  cliurches  and  other  institutions,  large  libraries,  the  empire 
of  public  opinion,  the  restraints  of  refined  society,  the  stimulus  of 
numbers,  and  the  check  of  the  strong  arm  of  the  law.  "Experi- 
ence,'' says  he,  "has  fully  proved  in  Europe,  and  in  the  older  states 
of  this  Union,  that  large  towns  or  cities  are  greatly  preferable  to  small 
ones  for  such  institutions.  All  the  capitals  and  most  of  the  second- 
rate  cities  of  Europe  have  their  universities.  And  wherever  they 
have  been  established  in  small  towns,  the  students  are  proverbially 
more  riotous  and  ungovernal)le  in  their  conduct,  more  boorisli  and 
savage  in  their  manners,  and  ni<>i(^  dissolute  and  licentious  in  their 
habits.'" 

He  was  also  of  the  decided  opinion  that  it  was  not  wise  to  stimn 
late  his  students  to  exertion   by   the  usual  honors  and   rewards  of 
other  colleges — appealing,  as  they  always  do,  to  the  seltish  ambition 
of  a  few  to  the  necessary  discouragement  of  the  great  majority,  who 
soon  despair  of  such  distinctions.     He  laid  aside  every  tiling  of  this 


34 


PHir.IP  LINDSI-EY. 


sort  at  Nashville,  from  the  very  beginning,  and  sought  to  instill  into 
every  pupil  an  enthusiastic  love  of  knowledge  for  its  own  sake,  and 
an  ambition  only  to  be  useful.  His  testimony  on  this  point,  given  in 
the  appendix  to  one  of  liis  baccalaureates,  is  valuable.  "This  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  first  college  in  the  Union,  and  is  still  probably  the 
onl}'  one,  which  lias  utterly  discarded  the  old  system  of  honorary  pre- 
miums and  distinctions,  as  incentives  to  industry  and  scholarship* 
This  species  of  emulation  and  excitement  is  here  unknown.  Each 
individual  is  encouraged  and  assisted  in  making  the  best  possible  use 
of  his  time  and  talents  and,  in  acquiring  knowledge  for  its  own  sake 
and  for  future  usefulness.  At  the  close  of  each  session,  or  half-year, 
all  the  classes  are  publicly  examined  on  the  studies  of  the  previous 
session.  These  examinations  usually  occupy  seven  or  eight  days,  and 
are  conducted  with  such  vigorous  strictness  and  impartiality  that  it  is 
impossible  for  ignorance  or  idleness  to  escape  detection  and  exposure. 
But  no  aspiring  youth  is  impelled,  by  the  hope  of  a  prize,  to  un- 
due and  dangerous  exertions  ;  and  none  subjected  to  the  mortification 
of  disappointed  ambition,  or  of  an  inequitable  decision.  This  is  not 
the  place  to  enlarge  on  these  topics.  But  fi'om  a  long  experimental 
acquaintance  with  the  ancient  usage  in  other  institutions,  and  from 
an  eight  years'  trial  of  the  present  system  here,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
give  the  latter  a  most  decided  preference.  A  much  larger  proportion 
of  every  class  become  good  scholars — and  much  greater  peace,  har- 
mony, contentment,  order,  industry,  and  moral  decorum  prevail  than 
it  had  ever  been  my  lot  to  remark  at  seminaries  east  of  the  mount- 
ains." He  also  abolished  the  custom,  so  much  in  vogue  at  other  col- 
leges, of  allowing  the  senior  class  a  vacation  or  holiday  previous  to 
graduation,  and  remarks  that  they  found  no  difficulty  in  preparing 
appropriate  exercises  for  the  public  commencement  while  going  on 
with  their  regular  studies  to  the  end  of  the  term.  The  number  and 
ability  of  the  speeches  of  his  graduating  classes  at  every  commence- 
ment fully  vindicated  the  correctness  of  this  opinion. 

Another  important  doctrine  inculcated  by  Dr.  Lindsley,  which  we 
must  not  omit  in  this  enumeration,  was  that  religious  2)rindple  is  an 
essential  element  of  all  education,  and  ought  never  to  be  divorced 
from  it.  This  runs  through  all  his  discourses.  He  was  never  more 
eloquent  and  impressive  than  when  urging  upon  his  pupils  the  fear 
of  God,  and  an  humble  imitation  of  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ. 
And  never  did  the  advice  seem  to  come  with  more  winning  grace,  or 
more  convincing  power,  than  when  thus  enforced  from  the  lips  of  a 
man  whom  all  his  pupils  were  constrained  to  look  upon  as  the  very 
Coryphceus  of  learning,  philosophy,  and  eloquence.  On  these  high 
themes,  the  most  common  and  femiliar  sentiments,  coming  from  him, 


Jo 

seemed  to  poss^ess  m-.w  wisdom  ;iiid  licautv .  His  >liurt  and  >imi)k- 
words — so  plain,  so  obvious  that  any  child  might  grasp  them — often, 
on  commencement  day,  brouglit  tears  to  the  eyes  of  the  most  thuUL,dit- 
less  graduate,  and  of  the  veteran  professor,  as  he  spoke  of  the  vanilv 
of  all  earthly  things,  and  the  blessedness  of  the  Christian's  hope.  In 
one  of  his  addresses,  after  exhorting  to  the  lifedong  pursuit  of  knuwl- 
edge,  he  adds  this  timely  caution.  "Be  not,  however,  the  blind  idol- 
aters of  genius,  or  of  science.  Both  may  e.\ist  where  not  one  lovely 
or  commendable  trait  of  character  can  be  found.  The  loftiest  intel- 
lect, without  virtue,  is  but  archangel  ruined.  In  God  only  do  we  be- 
hold the  perfection  of  understanding,  of  wisdom,  of  knowledge,  of 
holiness.  And  lie  is  that  perfect  standard  whieh  we  are  commanded 
to  aim  at.  Keligion,  wliieh  requires  us  to  be  like  God,  constitutes  the 
whole  of  moral  excellence.  And  in  pro]>ortion  as  religion  influences 
the  heart  and  life,  will  be  the  moral  worth  of  any  individual.  There 
can  be  no  principle  of  integrity,  of  truth,  of  kindness,  of  justice,  in- 
dependently of  religion.  Nothing  does,  nothing  can,  nothing  ever 
will,  restrain  any  mortal  from  any  indulgence,  pursuit,  gain,  or  abom- 
ination which  he  covets,  and  to  which  no  disgrace  is  attached,  except 
the  fear  of  God— or  what  is  the  same  tiling,  RELIGIOUS  PRIN- 
CIPLE." 

In  his  discourse  on  popular  education,  of  1837,  which  contains  a 
pretty  full  summary  of  his  peculiar  and  long-cberished  views  on  the 
wdiole  subject  of  education,  speaking  of  the  want  of  religious  instruc- 
tion in  some  of  the  common  school  systems  in  our  eastern  states,  he 
says  :— 

It  adds  another  to  the  thousand  milancholy  proofs  alrcadj'  before  tlie  world, 
that  no  species  of  ment:il  cultivation  can  ever  be  truly  beneficial,  where  the  pupils 
do  not,  at  the  same  time,  acquire  moral  and  religious  principles  and  liabits. 
Every  teacher  in  every  school,  from  the  infant  nursery  up  to  the  university, 
ought  to  be  deeply  imbued  with  the  purest  spirit  of  christian  morality,  and  to  la- 
bor assiduously  in  molding  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  youthful  charge  aareeably 
to  the  only  standard  of  virtue  and  integrity  «  hieh  is  recognized  among  Christian 
ni-n.  To  educate  Christian  youth  as  heathens  or  atheists  is  at  once  absurd  and 
monstrous.  To  expect  such  youth  to  become  good,  moral,  peaceful,  ordeily,  re- 
ligious men  is  to  expect  a  miracle. 

No  man  could  well  have  a  higher  appreciation  than  L>r.  Liudsley 
of  the  necessity  of  a  thorough  training  on  the  part  of  all  those  who 
undertake  the  difficult  and  important  work  of  teaching  the  young. 
Being  himself  so  well  versed  in  all  the  methods  of  past  ages,  and  so 
constantly  informed  as  to  all  the  improvements  of  the  present  time, 
he  never  ceased  to  insist  on  high  qualifications  in  all  teacher.s,  from 
the  common  school  up  to  the  university.  It  was  one  grand  object  of 
all  his  eftbrts  at  Nashville  to  rai.se  up  and  send  out  accomplished 
teachers.  ''Education  itself,"  says  he,  in  the  lecture  just  referred  to, 
"has  become  a  science:  and  it  deserves  the  most  profotind  study  of 


gg  PHILIP  LINUSLEY. 

all  wLo  wish  to  be  esteemed  skillful  and  thorough  educators.  Educa- 
tion is  indeed  a  topic  about  which  every  body  feels  competent  to 
speculate  and  to  dogmatize — while  few  comprehend  the  nature  or 
philosophy  of  the  process." 

He  describes  the  good  teacher  as  one  who  understands  perfectly, 
himself,  all  that  he  assumes  to  teach.  He  must  be  able  and  ivilling, 
or  apt  to  teach.  He  must  possess  the  requisite  intellectual  furniture, 
and  also  moral  principle,  or  he  can  not  be  trustworthy.  He  must 
be  able  to  do  the  work,  and  he  must  also  love  the  work.  "  He  will 
borrow  light  and  information  from  every  quarter — will  combine  the 
good  properties,  as  far  as  practicable,  of  all  the  known  systems — and 
yet  will  teach  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  himself.  He  will  constrain  his 
pupils  to  love  their  studies.  He  will  make  it  their  delight  to  ad- 
vance in  knowledge  and  wisdom.  And  (as  Milton  has  it)  will  insens- 
ibly lead  them  up  the  hill-side  of  science,  usually  indeed  laborious 
and  difficult  at  the  first  ascent;  but,  uiider  his  kindly  guidance,  it  will 
appear  so  smooth,  so  green,  so  full  of  goodly  prospects  and  melodious 
sounds  on  every  side,  that  the  harp  of  Orpheus  could  not  be  more 
charming."  But  he  adds,  "The  principal  officer  or  commander-in- 
chief  of  every  great  literary  institution,  or  seminary  for  juvenile  in- 
struction, ought  to  possess  a  large  measure  of  the  wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon, the  learning  of  Selden,  and  the  patience  of  Job.'' 

Akin  to  this  idea  of  constant  religious  training,  he  also  held  that 
the  siiuhj  of  the  Scriptures  Avas  essential  to  all  right  education,  and 
should  have  a  place  in  every  seminary  of  youth.  He  was  accustomed 
to  address  his  graduating  class  with  such  words  as  these  : — "  Let  the 
Bible  be  the  companion  of  your  future  lives  and  studies.  Read  it 
daily,  and  with  humble  prayer  for  the  illuminating  influences  of  that 
blessed  Spirit  who  first  inspired  and  revealed  it.  It  will  be  a  lamp  to 
your  feet,  and  a  light  to  your  faith,  and  a  joy  to  your  hearts,  in  all 
your  wanderings  through  life's  checkered  scenery  and  through  death's 
dark  valley.  It  will  teach  you  how  to  value  and  how  to  improve 
time,  talent,  learning,  and  wealth — how  to  be  honest — how  to  be  re- 
ligious— how  to  be  useful — how  to  be  happy — how  to  live  and  how 
to  die."  In  that  masterly  inaugural  address,  which  has  been  so 
often  referred  to,  we  find  him  laying  down  his  doctrine  on  this  point 
in  the  following  passage,  which,  for  the  justness  of  its  sentiment  and 
its  chaste  and  classic  diction,  we  regard  as  one  of  the  finest  passages 
in  all  his  writings. 

The  Bible  ouglit  to  be  studied,  and  its  lessons  of  wisdom  diligently  enforced 
and  practically  exemplified.  I  say  nothing  of  creeds,  or  confessions,  or  systems 
of  doctrine.  I  speak  of  the  Bible — the  grand  charter  of  our  holy  religion — of  our 
common  Christianity.  And  who  of  the  great  Christian  family  can  object  \f)  this 
In  the  heathen  schools  youth  were  always  taught  the  religion  of  their  country^ 


1 


PHILIP  MNDSI.EY 


37 


Every  Mussulman  is  required  to  be  a  iiiastur  ol  iIil  Koran.  And  shall  Lhristiiin 
youth  be  less  favored  than  the  Pagan  and  Mohannnedan  .'  Have  we  a  book  bear- 
ing the  impress  of  Heaven — confessedly  embodying  the  purest  morality  ever  yet 
known  in  the  world — the  only  authentic  record  of  the  origin  of  our  race,  and" of 
the  most  stupendous  events  which  have  occurred  upon  our  globe — tilled  willi 
sct-ncs  of  real  life  the  most  instructive,  with  biograjdiieal  incident  the  most  extra- 
ordinary and  pathetic,  with  strains  of  eloquence  and  jioctry  the  nutft  melting  and 
sublime — and  withal  professing  to  bo,  and  acknowledged  to  be,  our  oidy  safe  gui.le 
through  life,  and  the  foundation  of  all  our  hopes  of  a  blessed  immorUility — -shall 
this  book  be  excluded  from  our  seminaries,  and  withheld  from  our  youth,  at  the  very 
period  too  when  they  most  need  its  salutary  restraints  and  purifying  intlueiiee  .' 
And  this  lest,  peradventure,  some  speculative  error,  or  some  sectarian  opinion, 
might  be  imbibed  I  As  if  worse  errors,  and  more  inveterate  prejudices,  and  tlie 
must  pernicious  principles,  will  not  be  sure  to  tind  their  way  into  that  heart  which 
remains  a  stranger  to  the  hallowed  i)rece|)ts  of  the  sacred  volume.  But  1  intern! 
to  orter  no  formal  argument  upon  this  point  just  now.  In  every  place  of  educa- 
tion the  Bible  ought  to  be  the  daily  companion  of  every  individual;  and  no  man 
ought  to  be  suffered  to  teach  at  all,  who  refuses  to  teach  the  Bible.  ''  Train  up  a 
child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will  not  de|)art  from  it,"  is 
tile  doctrine  of  revelation,  of  reason,  and  of  experience. 

We  must  add  yet  another  point.  It  was  a  favorite  o|)inion  witli 
Dr.  Lindsley,  or  rather  a  great  general  idea  for  wliioh  he  battled 
bravely  througit  all  his  presidency  at  Nashville,  that  education,  while 
it  should  be  most  distincthj  religions  and  Christian,  need  not  he  secta- 
rian or  even  denouiinutional.  It  was  one  of  his  fondest  conceptions 
from  the  beginning,  and  it  became  one  of  the  leading  objects  of  his 
life,  to  build  up  at  Nashville  a  great  educational  institute,  founded 
upon  the  broad  basis  of  the  Bible,  and  as  avowedly  religious  and 
Christian  as  the  Bible  itself,  which  yet  should  be  in  no  sense  sectarian, 
but  worthy  of  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  all  evangelical  denom- 
inations— being  at  the  same  time  open  and  free  to  all  others,  whether 
in  the  church  or  out  of  it.  It  was  just  to  carry  out  in  collegiate  or 
university  education  that  great  idea,  on  which  our  American  common 
school  system  is  founded,  of  teaching  the  Bible  without  teaching  any 
particular  church  creed.  Going  to  Tennessee  when  he  did,  before  any 
thing  like  a  denominational  college  existed  in  the  state,  it  was  per- 
fectly natural  that  he  should  entertain  this  conception,  and  that  he 
should  hope — breathing  as  he  ever  did  the  most  enla'"ged  spirit  of 
Christian  liberality  and  charity — to  rally  all  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians around  his  rising  university.  And  there  is  not  a  d  :)ubt,  had 
they  done  so,  but  that  he  would  speedily  have  accomplished  all  he 
aimed  at,  and,  notwithstanding  every  obstacle,  have  made,  somewhat 
on  the  plan  of  the  Christian  and  yet  unsectarian  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey, an  institution  which  would  have  been  an  honor  to  the  state  and 
a  blessing  to  every  church.  He  did  this  even  as  it  was — but  on  a 
scale  altogether  meager  comj)ared  with  what  he  would  have,  done, 
with  the  cordial  co-operation  and  support  of  all  Christian  denomina 
tions  in  Tennessee. 

Instead  of  adopting  his  plan  of  endowing  one  great  university  at 


^g  PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 

Nashville,  and  another  at  Knoxville,  and  perhaps  ultimately  one  at 
Memphis,  the  contrary  policy  prevailed  of  having  a  college  in  every 
large  town  and  county,  and  one  or  more  for  every  particular  denom- 
ination of  Christians.  Bravely  and  long  did  he  battle  against  this 
policy.  "  A  public  college,"  said  he,  "  that  is,  a  literary  and  scientific 
college,  designed  for  the  use  of  the  public  generally,  ought  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  all  religious  sectarian  bias,  or  tendency,  or  influence. 
iScience  and  philosophy  ought  to  know  no  party  in  church  or  state. 
They  are  degraded  by  every  such  connection.  Christianity,  indeed, 
if  rightly  int?rpreted,  breathes  a  pure,  angelic  charity,  and  is  as  much 
a  stranger  to  the  strife,  and  intrigue,  and  rancor,  and  intolerance,  and 
pharisaism  of  party  as  science  and  philosopliy  can  be." 

But  it  Avas  all  in  vain.  The  denominational  currents  were  too 
strong  for  him.  From  having  no  college  in  Tennessee,  colleges  got 
to  be  the  order  of  the  day.  His  very  success  at  Nashville  embold- 
ened many  to  go  and  do  likewise :  colleges  sprang  up  in  all  quarters 
faster  than  they  were  needed.  In  popular  estimation,  it  was  easier  to 
build  twenty  colleges  in  the  West  than  it  had  been  to  build  one  in 
New  Jersey.  After  fighting  against  this  folly  for  twenty-three  years, 
he  gives  us  the  result  of  it  all  in  the  following  statement,  taken  from 
the  address  of  1848.  "When  this  college  was  revived  and  reorgan- 
ized, at  the  close  of  1824,  there  were  no  similar  institutions,  in  actual 
operation,  within  two  hundred  miles  of  Nashville.  There  Avere  none 
in  Alabama,  ^Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  Texas,  Middle  or  West 
Tennessee.  There  are  now  some  thirty  or  more  within  that  distance, 
(of  two  hundred  miles.)  and  nine  within  fifty  miles  of  our  city.  These 
all  claim  to  be  our  superiors,  and  to  be  equal  at  least  to  old  Harvard 
and  Yale.  Of  course,  we  can  not  expect  nmch  '•'■custom,^''  or  to  com- 
mand a  large  range  of  what  is  miscalled  patronage.  I  have  a  list 
now  before  me  of  twenty  colleges  or  universities  in  Tennessee  alone. 
Several  of  these  belong  exclusively  to  indi\iduals,  and  are  bought  and 
sold  in  open  market  like  any  other  species  of  private  property.  They 
are  invested  with  the  usual  corporate  powers,  and  may  confer  all  uni- 
versity degrees  at  pleasure.  This  is  probably  a  new  thing  under  the 
sun  ;  but  Solomon's  geography  did  not  extend  to  America." 

It  must  uot  be  inferred  from  this  that  Dr.  Lindsley  was  the  enemy 
of  denominational  education,  or  of  institutions  for  that  purpose.  He 
disavowed  any  feeling  of  that  kind.  He  only  contended  that,  for 
rudimental  and  collegiate  learning,  the  churches  might  have  secured 
all  they  needed  by  combining  in  the  support  of  one  Christian  institu- 
tion ;  as  was  certainly  done  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  Nor  must  it  be  in- 
ferred that  he  was  at  all  indifterent  as  to  the  distinctive  creed  of  his 
own  church.     He  was  no  latitudinarian.     If  any  ever  thought  him 


i 


PIIII.IP  I.INDSI.KY.  ^Cf 

sucli,  judging  by  his  iVoijuout  il«uiincialioiis  of  all  roligious  bigotry 
and  sectarianism,  and  his  hearty  coniniondation  of  the  largest  liberality 
and  charity,  it  was  because  they  wholly  misunderstood  him.  Tlu-n- 
was  perhaps  not  a  minister  in  the  Presbyterian  church  who  luld  all 
the  peculiar  and  distinctive  doctrines  of  her  standards  witli  a  niiT.- 
settled  and  unwavering  faith.  "We  venture  to  say,  there  is  not  a 
sentiment,  in  all  his  published  or  unpublished  writings,  which  conHicts 
with  one  jot  or  tittle  of  them.  His  religious  character,  molded 
throughout  on  the  Westminster  Confession  of  faith,  was  a  perfect 
refutation  of  the  slander  that  a  man  must  needs  be  a  bigot  because 
he  is  a  Calvinist.  He  was,  to  all  who  knew  liim,  a  living  witness  <it 
the  great  fact  tliat  the  soundest  and  most  uncompromising  orthodoxy 
need  be  no  stranger  to  that  philantliropy  wliich  can  look  upon  every 
fellow-man  as  a  brother,  and  that  genial  charity  which  can  embrace 
every  humble  follower  of  Christ,  of  every  name,  as  a  fellow  Christian. 

VI.       RESULTS    AND    INFLUE.NCES    OF    HIS    LIFE. 

Having  now  gone  over  some  of  the  more  prominent  and  character- 
istic views  which  distinguished  r)r.  Lindsley  as  an  educator,  and  in 
which  we  have  aimed,  as  much  as  possible,  to  let  liim  speak  for  him- 
self, it  only  remains  for  us  to  set  forth  tlie  sum  or  result  of  liis  labors. 
Of  course  nothing  but  an  approximate,  and  at  best  inadequate,  esti- 
mate can  be  given.  It  is  not  for  us  to  know  here  the  sum  total  of 
any  mortal  life ;  much  less  to  tell  all  that  lies  beyond,  and  takes  hold 
upon  the  immortal.  Still  we  are  accustomed  to  form  some  relative 
value  of  the  labors  of  our  fellow-men,  from  what  we  have  seen  of 
them,  and  as  we  compare  them  with  others.  We  have,  to  some  ex- 
tent, already  anticipated  this  part  of  the  subject,  in  what  has  been 
said.  But  yet  it  may  be  ^vell  to  bring  out  a  little  more  distinctly  the 
results  and  influences  of  such  a  hfe.  It  is  a  debt  which  we,  tlie  liv- 
ing, owe  to  those  who  are  to  come  after  us — to  record  the  deeds  and 
tell  of  the  eminent  virtues  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  that 
they,  being  dead,  may  yet  speak. 

We  may  form  some  conception  of  his  work  and  influence  if  we 
consider  the  number  and  character  of  the  pupils  whom  he  educated. 
We  are  not  able  to  state  the  whole  number;  but  we  find  in  liis  ad- 
dress of  1848  one  important  item.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  boeii 
three  hundred  and  ninety-eight  regular  graduates  of  the  university, 
and  fifteen  hundred  others  had  received  instruction  without  graduat- 
ing. Here  then  we  have  an  aggregate  of  nearly  nineteen  hundred 
youths  receiving  the  elements  of  an  accomplished  collegiate  education  ; 
nearly  four  hundred  of  whom  completed  the  whole  literary  and  scien- 
tific course.     These  were  from  all  parts  of  Tennessee,  and  from  all 


40  PHILIP  LINDST.EY. 

classes  of  the  people — nay,  from  all  parts  of  the  South  West.  A 
lar^e  number  of  them  were  sons  of  prominent  and  wealthy  citizens. 
But  the  rich  and  the  poor  here  met  together  and,  pari  passu,  strug- 
gled upward  to  the  high  places  of  knowledge  and  power.  It  mattered 
not,  when  they  went  forth,  fi'om  what  rank  they  had  sprung.  They 
went  forth  brothers  and  e(juals — all  to  take  the  foremost  rank  and 
become  themselves  heads  and  leaders  of  the  people.  They  went  forth 
into  all  parts  of  the  great  South  West — furnished  with  the  panoply 
of  liberal  learning,  and  fired  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Gamaliel  at 
whose  feet  tiiey  liad  been  sitting — to  plead  the  great  cause  of  educa- 
tion, to  take  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of  new  states,  new  col- 
leges and  seminaries,  and  every  where,  from  Tennessee  to  Texas  and 
California,  to  till  the  highest  positions  of  honor  and  usefulness  in  the 
state  and  the  church. 

The  writer  has  had  occasion  to  know  something  of  these  gi'eat 
south-western  states — something  of  the  men  who  have  founded 
their  institutions,  and  of  the  influences  which  liave  molded  the  char- 
acter of  their  people  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century — and,  with- 
out wishing  to  detract  a  jot  or  tittle  from  other  eminent  and  useful 
laborers,  he  can  bear  witness  that  he  has  visited  no  point  in  all  this 
vast  region  where  the  influence  of  Philip  Lindsley  had  not  been  felt 
and  where  some  of  his  pujiils  were  not  found  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
honorable  men,  bravely  battling  for  the  true  and  the  good.  Often, 
while  weary  himself  with  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  in  some 
humble  and  distant  corner  of  the  field,  has  he  felt  his  own  heart 
cheered  to  renewed  activity,  as  he  has  looked  back  to  that  unpretend- 
ing college  hillside  at  Nasliville,  and  thought  of  the  master-magician 
there — the  very  Arnold  of  our  western  colleges — who,  quietly,  unob- 
served by  the  world,  and  wielding  a  power  greater  than  that  of  Pros- 
pero  in  the  Tempest,  was  sending  forth  his  influences  to  bless  and 
save  his  country.  Wliat  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  knowledge — 
of  the  way  in  which  a  good  man  m.ay  perpetuate  his  influence! 
Many  of  these  nineteen  hundred  pupils  have  become  educators. 
Through  them  the  head-master  is  still  teaching — teaching  in  the  col- 
leges, universities,  high  schools,  common  schools,  medical  and  law 
schools — teaching  in  the  pulpit,  the  press,  the  courts  of  justice,  the 
legislative  halls — teaching  at  the  firesides,  in  the  counting-rooms,  in 
the  workshops,  in  the  banking-houses  of  this  great  Mississippi  valley. 
The  waves  of  popular  and  liberal  education,  thus  created,  as  by  a 
great  central  elevating  force,  are  still  rolling,  and  ever  widening  as 
they  roll !  It  was  fortunate,  it  was  providential,  for  the  South  West, 
that  such  a  force  should  be  applied  just  when  and  where  it  was. 

We  may  also  form  some  conception  of  the  extent  of  his  influence 


PHILIP  LI NDSLEY.  ^^ 

from  another  consideration.  It  is  tlie  statement  already  given 
respecting  the  unprecedented  multiplication  of  colleges  in  Tennessee. 
In  twenty-three  years  the  two  colleges  in  Tennes.see  had  multii.li.-d 
to  twenty — nine  of  them  within  fifty  miles  of  Nasliville.  For  onco 
it  might  be  said  that  the  schoolmaster  was  fairly  abroad  among  tin- 
people.  Though  this  result  was  far  from  being  what  he  had  be^-n 
contending  for,  while  pleading  the  cause  of  education  in  Tennessee, 
yet  there  can  be  no  question  that  his  influence  had  much  to  do,  at 
least,  as  the  occasion  of  it.  Some  of  his  own  pupils,  fascinated  1)V 
his  genius  and  learning,  and  stimulated  by  his  success  to  do  a  great 
work  for  their  particular  region,  or  their  particular  denomination, 
embarked  in  this  work  of  college-building.  Nor  can  there  be  anv 
question  that  this  furor  for  colleges,  however  it  retarded  his  own  ..)> 
erations  at  Nashville,  was  in  the  main  a  great  gain  to  the  cause  of 
education.  Collegiate  education  is  so  important  that  it  is  better  to 
have  any  thing — even  a  storm  of  popular  feeling  about  it — than  to 
have  a  dead  calm  of  indifterenee.  This  increase  of  colleges  was  not 
the  best  thing — for  from  it ;  but  it  was  infinitely  better  than  nothing. 
We  suppose  all  thinking  men  in  Tennessee,  even  those  at  the  head 
of  her  colleges,  -would  now  agree  that  Dr.  Lindsley  was  right — that 
to-day  it  would  be  better  to  have  one,  two,  or  three  great  Christian 
institutions,  like  Nassua  Hall  or  Yale,  well-manned  and  well-endowed, 
than  to  have  things  as  they  are.  But  inasmuch  as  that  was  not  to 
be — though  all  his  talents  and  wisdom  were  staked  upon  it — then 
the  next  best  thing  was  the  result  which  followed — to  have  every 
wealthy  district,  and  every  religious  denomination,  laboring  ■with 
might  and  main  for  its  own  college. 

But  perhaps  the  most  striking  illustration  of  his  influence  as  an 
educator  is  seen  at  Nashville  itself — the  scene  of  his  longest  labors — 
the  home  of  his  adoption — the  resting-place  where  his  aslies  slee]). 
We  have  no  citizenship  at  Nashville ;  and  hence  can  not  be  accused 
of  partiality  in  what  we  are  about  to  say.  But  of  all  we  have  se'Mi 
and  known,  we  may  safely  say,  there  is  no  city  west  of  the  mount- 
ains which  seems  to  us  so  justly  entitled  to  be  called  the  Athens  of 
the  West,  as  Nashville.  And  for  that  distinction  we  think  there  is 
no  man  to  whom  Nashville  is  so  much  indebted  as  Dr.  Lindsley.  It' 
any  man  ever  made  his  mark,  deep  and  ineffaceable,  upon  a  placf 
and  people,  he  made  it  at  Nashville.  We  say  this  too  with  a  full 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  the  eminent  labors  of  his  compeers 
and  predecessors.  There  were  many  faithful  laborers  with  him  and 
before  him,  whose  names  the  people  of  Nashville  will  not  willingly  lot 
die — serving  well  their  generation  in  all  the  professions  and  vocations 
of  life — Priestly,  Hume,  Jennings,  Weller,  Trimble,  Lawrence,  Tronsf, 


42 


PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 


Hamilton,  Stevens,  Berry,  Craighead,  Crutcher,  Porter,  Yeatinaii, 
Woods,  Shelby,  McGavock,  Ewing,  Foster,  Nichol,  Mc  Nairy,  Gibbs, 
Robertson,  Roane,  Overton,  Rutledge,  Hunt,  Tannehill,  Campbell, 
Polk,  Grundy,  Fletcher,  Cannon,  Carrol,  Jackson,  and  many  others — 
all  intimately  associated  with  the  reputation  of  the  city  abroad  and 
her  prosperity  at  liome.  But  among  all  these  eminent  and  honored 
citizens,  we  doubt  not  that,  for  deep,  wide,  and  lasting  influence,  the 
foremost  place  is  due  to  Dr.  Lindsley. 

To  appreciate  this  influence  we  have  only  to  contrast  Nashville  as 
it  now  is  with  what  it  was  when  Dr.  Lindsley  became  the  president 
of  Cumberland  College — an  interval  of  more  than  thirty  years. 

We  had  occasion  to  visit  it  for  the  first  time  in  1830,  in  the  sixth 
year  of  liis  presidency,  and  recollect  distinctly  what  it  then  was,  as 
from  an  adjoining  hill,  and  on  an  autumn  morning,  we  saw  its  rocks, 
and  cedars,  and  housetops,  partially  co.vered  with  the  first  fall  of  snow, 
and  glittering  like  a  mount  of  diamonds  in  the  light  of  the  rising 
sun.  rt  was  a  compact  liitle  city  of  some  five  or  six  thousand  souls, 
confined  pretty  much  to  a  single  hill  or  bluff"  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Cumberland.  But  it  was  beautiful  even  then — set  like  a  gem  in  the 
green  casket  of  the  surrounding  hill-country.  It  stood  just  at  the 
outer  apex  of  a  long  curve  in  the  river,  where,  after  sweeping  west- 
ward, through  a  rich  valley,  and  striking  the  elevated  bluflfs  of  strat- 
ified limestone  rocks  underlying  the  city,  it  flows  gracefully  and 
slowly  away,  in  a  long  stretch  to  the  north,  as  if  its  waters  lingered 
to  look  upon  a  spot  of  so  much  beauty.  It  was  precisely  such  a  spot 
as  the  old  classic  Greeks  and  Romans  would  have  chosen  to  build  a 
city.  It  was  a  site  of  gently-rising  and  conterminous  hills,  almost  as 
numerous  and  quite  as  elevated  as  the  seven  hills  of  Rome ;  and 
each  of  their  summits  at  that  time  wore  the  green  crown  of  a  dense 
cedar  grove  — while  from  the  midst  of  the  city,  seemingly  out  of  its 
very  housetops,  rose  one  central  and  higher  hill,  like  Alp  on  Alp, 
uverlooking  all  the  scene,  and  not  unworthy  of  the  Athenian  Acro- 
polis. In  that  central  cedar-crowned  hill  the  old  Greeks  would  have 
imagined  the  r/enii  loci  to  dwell.  And  if  the  traveler  had  chanced 
to  visit  the  spot  some  fifty  years  earlier  than  we  did,  he  might  in- 
deed have  found  there  the  real  genius  of  the  place — not  some  fabled 
(irecian  goddess,  but  a  wild  Cherokee  Indian.  The  Thtiversity  was 
then  a  single,  plain,  unpretending  building,  ninety  feet  long  and 
three  stories  high,  situated  on  what  was  called  College  Hill,  to  the 
south  of  the  city,  and  commanding  a  fine  view  both  of  the  city  and 
the  river.  In  the  books  of  that  day,  the  seat  of  all  this  natural 
beauty  was  described  as  a  "  Post-town,  the  capital  of  Davidson 
county,  containing  a  court-house,  a  jail,  a  market-house,  a   branch 


PHII.IP  LINDSLEY.  43 

bank  of  the  United  States,  the  respeetable  j)rivate  bank  of  Veatnian, 
Woods  &  Co.,  a  valuable  public  library,  a  respectable  female  aeadoiny, 
and  houses  of  public  worship  for  rresbyterians,  Methodists,  and 
Baptists."' 

Such  was  the  capital  of  Tennessee  thirty  years  ago.  And  what  is  it 
now  ?  Now  it  is  a  busy  city  of  nearly  thirty-two  thousaml  souls,  on 
both  sides  of  the  river,  and  sprc-ad  out  over  all  the  hills  and  valleys  fur 
miles  around.  Xow  it  has  sixteen  Protestant  cliurehes,  three  lines  of 
railroad,  a  hundred  steamboats,  and  an  annual  trade,  including  its 
manufactures,  of  twenty-tive  millions.  The  long,  rude  bo.\  of  a  bridge, 
\\hich  once  connected  the  banks  of  the  river,  has  given  jilace  to  twu 
magniticent  structures,  one  for  railroad  and  the  other  for  ordinary  use 
— such  as  the  Tiber  never  boasted,  and  which  would  have  tilk-d  the 
old  Romans  with  mingled  wonder  and  delight.  Those  beautiful  green 
cedars,  once  the  glory  of  winter,  have  disappeared  from  all  the  hill- 
tops, and  iu  their  place  have  sprung  up  the  maible  mansions  of  wealtli 
or  the  neat  cottages  of  the  artisan.  That  central  summit,  where  in 
olden  times  dwelt  the  wild  genii  of  the  woods,  is  now  surmounted 
with  the  capitol  of  Tennessee — the  temple  of  law  and  justice,  built 
of  native  marble,  whose  massive  proportions,  rising  without  an  ob- 
strui'tion,  and  seen  from  every  direction,  as  if  projected  against  the 
very  sky,  would  have  done  honor  to  the  Athenian  Acropolis  in  the 
proudest  days  of  Pericles.  And  there  too,  looking  from  the  broad 
terraces  and  steps  of  the  capitol,  the  spectator  beholds,  across  the  city 
at  the  distance  of  a  mile  to  the  south,  that  old  and  famous  College 
Hill — once  "so  smooth,  so  green,  so  full  of  goodly  prospects  and 
melodious  sounds,"  but  now  environed  by  a  dense  and  busy  popula- 
tion— where  for  twenty-six  years,  by  day  and  night,  went  on  the  great 
work  we  have  taken  in  hand  to  estimate — the  work  of  training  some 
two  thousand  immortal  minds  in  all  high  and  liberal  learning.  That 
hill  is  now  set  apart  to  the  medical  department  of  the  university,  with 
its  spacious  buildings,  its  costly  museum,  its  laboratory,  library,  lec- 
ture-rooms, and  four  hundred  students,  gathered  from  all  quarters  of 
the  South  West.  But  further  on  in  the  same  southern  direction,  and 
in  the  ample  and  elevated  grounds  which  L>r.  Lindsley  had  the  wis- 
dom to  secure  for  such  purposes  at  an  early  day,  are  now  seen  the 
still  more  costly  and  magniticent  new  buildings  of  the  literary  depart- 
ment, which  have  been  erected  since  his  resignation,  through  the  en- 
ergetic and  untiring  exertions  of  his  son.  the  present  chancellor  of  the 
universitv.  From  the  capitol  is  also  seen  another  commanding  edifice 
— the  public  high  school  of  the  city — a  noble  enterprise  both  in  its 
conception  and  execution,  for  which  Nashville  was  greatly  indebted 
to  one  of  her  own  university  alumni — the   lamented  AltVed  Uume ; 


^^  PHILIP  LINDSLEY. 

while  a  little  fmtlier  on  to  the  west  still  stands  that  large  and  flour- 
ishing female  academy,  over  which  his  venerated  father,  William 
Hume,  so  long  and  so  successfully  presided. 

Such  is  Nashville,  such  her  institutions,  such  her  enterprise 
and  enlargement  in  1859.  And  now,  we  ask,  to  whom  is  she 
more  indebted  for  all  this  prosperity  and  improvement — this  intel- 
lectual, moral,  social,  educational,  and  even  material  development, 
than  to  the  man  who,  even  at  the  darkest  hour  of  her  temporary  de- 
pi-ession,  when  her  own  sons  were  ready  to  forsake  her,  would  never 
leave  her ;  but  clung  to  her  through  all  vicissitudes,  determined  nei- 
ther to  give  up  her  univeisity,  nor  suffer  its  real  estate  to  be  sacri- 
ticed  ?  We  had  an  opportunity,  only  a  few  years  ago,  of  visiting 
Nashville,  and  while  there,  of  comparing  her  past  and  present  condi 
tion.  We  examined  somewhat  closely  into  the  influences  whijch  have 
been  at  work  to  make  her  what  she  is.  In  all  we  saw  and  heard,  we 
were  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  promi- 
nent elements  and  agencies  of  her  growth,  and  of  her  present  ele- 
vated character  as  a  city,  w^ere  those  which  had  originated  on  that 
same  College  Hill.  We  found  that  the  "  Old  University,"  though 
for  a  season  suspended,  Avas  in  fact  still  governing  the  city.  We 
found  that  most  of  the  leading  men,  in  all  the  learned  professions, 
mercantile  pursuits,  and  even  mechanic  trades,  had,  in  one  way  or 
another,  been  connected  with  the  university,  and  in  a  measure  edt(- 
cated  by  it.  We  found  that  many  of  her  most  gifted  alumni  from 
other  parts  of  the  slate,  and  even  from  other  states,  after  rising  to 
wealth  and  influence  at  home,  had  worked  their  way  back  to  Nash- 
ville, and  wei-e  now  contributing  all  the  resources  of  their  talents, 
their  experience,  their  attainments,  and  their  fortunes  to  the  onward 
and  upward  growth  of  the  city.  We  found  that  thus,  congregating 
at  Nashville,  and  throwing  the  whole  weight  of  their  character,  their 
public  spirit,  their  enterprise,  their  love  of  education  into  all  the  in- 
tercourse of  society,  and  all  the  walks  of  business,  and  the  whole 
public  administration  of  the  city,  they  were  not  only  making  the  capi- 
tal of  Tennessee  an  emporium  of  wealth  and  an  Athens  of  learning, 
but  sending  forth  an  influence  over  all  the  surrounding  region — nay, 
one  that  must  be  felt  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  state.  We 
found  that  thus  there  was  a  great  elevating  moral  power  at  Nash- 
ville— the  power  of  letters — the  power  of  education — the  power  of 
her  own  university.  And  when  we  saw  all  this — saw  how  the  city 
had  grown,  and  whij  it  had  grown,  to  its  present  enviable  position  of 
intellectual  and  moral  power — we  remembered  some  of  those  match- 
less appeals,  and  arguments,  and  vindications  in  favor  of  the  higher 
learning  as   the   nucleus  of  all   that  was  great  and  good,  which,  for 


PHILIP  LINDSLEV.  45 

twenty-six  years,  Nasliville  had  never  faileil  to  laar.  Tlie  jireJictions 
were  all  fulfilled  or  fulfilling,  tliougli  the  eloquent  toiir,'ue  that  sjioko 
them  was  now  silent.  And  we  fit  that,  if  Nashville  should  over 
erect  a  public  monument  to  any  man,  the  honor  was  due  to  her  emi- 
nent educator— rillLIP  LIXDSLKV. 

Whether  then  we  measure  the  results  of  his  great  life-work  by  its 
special  effect  upon  the  city  of  his  adoption,  or  by  its  wider  influence 
upon  the  progress  of  education  in  Tennessee,  or  by  its  still  wider  im- 
pression upon  the  whole  South  West,  through  the  influence  of  his  pu- 
pils— not  to  speak  of  his  writings  and  general  influence  abroad — we 
think  it  can  not  be  questioned  that  he  has  left  his  mark,  deep  and 
ineflaceable,  upon  his  country  and  his  generation.  And  we  doubt 
not  that,  as  it  regards  all  that  earlier  portion  of  his  labors,  at  the 
east,  of  which  we  have  here  said  nothing,  there  are  men  still  living  in 
various  parts  of  our  country — once  his  pnpils,  but  now  leading  citi- 
zens— statesmen,  jurists,  divines,  educators — who  could  bear  witness 
to  his  eminent  abilities  and  to  his  important  influence  upon  their  own 
character  and  destiny.  It  can  not  be  qnestioned  that  he  was  among 
the  leading  spirits  of  our  times,  and  possessed  one  of  the  most  acute, 
thoroughly  disciplined,  and  accomplished  minds  in  our  country.  He 
was  himself  a  living  illustration — and  a  noble  one — of  that  higher 
culture  and  scholarship  of  which  hi  was,  through  life,  the  eloquent 
advocate  and  defender.  He  never  crossed  the  waters;  but,  had  he 
gone,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  as  a  Grecian  and  a  savant,  he  would 
have  done  honor  to  his  country  in  any  circle  of  the  European  literati. 
Devoting  all  his  fine  powers  and  his  ripe  scholarship  to  the  great 
work  of  education,  and  casting  in  his  lot  for  life  with  the  people  of 
the  West,  he  has  set  a  noble  example  of  consecration  to  all  young 
men  of  genius.  Nor  will  the  example  be  lost.  A  great  state  will 
not  soon  forget  the  memory  of  her  adopted  son,  who  so  early  came 
to  her  help,  and  so  long  labored  for  her  good,  in  the  very  front  rank 
of  her  scholars  and  educators. 

But  our  task  is  done.  It  has  been  to  us  a  labor  of  love.  Would 
that  we  could  have  made  it  a  worthier  tribute  to  his  memory.  We 
have  at  least  been  able  to  group  together  some  of  his  own  glowing 
and  weighty  thoughts.  It  was  a  striking  and  fitting  Providence  that 
he  should  be  permitted  to  return  and  die  on  the  very  scene  of  his 
];il^ors — in  the  ])resenee  of  his  fellow-citizens — in  the  midst  of  his 
brethren  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  church — in  the  arms  of  his 
children.  Such  an  exit,  after  such  a  life,  was  more  blessed  and  more 
glorious  than  that  of  the  soldier  on  the  field  of  his  fame,  and  in  the 
very  onset  of  victory.  It  was  the  ready  and  sublime  ascent  of  the 
veteran  teacher  from  the  bosom  of  his  early  pupils,  and  at  the  sum- 


ir 


Mast> 


lie;  hi' 


ve  ai  I 

1;  in.  t<  M 

u.,...Je  the  dubi  <.  .      ■    ..a  inaiiy  of  ui^  great  t... 

have  been  gathered  there.  In  that  quiet  valley  of  the  dead,  from 
which  spreads  out  in  the  distance  the  living  panorama  of  the  city — 
the  spires  and  turrets  of  its  churches,  the  graceful  sweep  of  its 
bridges,  the  classic  walls  of  its  university,  its  medical  and  high 
schools,  the  proud  dome  of  its  capitol  towering  to  the  sky,  the  gentle 
flow  of  the  Cumberland  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  over  all  the  blue 
vault  of  heaven — there,  with  his  compeers  and  predecessors,  his 
friends  and  pupils,  dues  his  body  await  in  hope  the  resurrection  of 
the  just,     lie  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his  works  do  follow  him. 

Such  a  life,  when  we  consider  its  trinmphs,  its  trials,  its  influences, 
and  its  issues,  both  temporal  and  eternal,  may  well  be  called  a  great 
epic.  Well  may  it  inspire  the  young  with  ])atriotic  ardor,  and  with 
hii'h  resolves  to  excel  in  every  honorable  and  useful  calling.  Well 
may  it  cheer  the  faithful  fellow-laborer  with  God  in  the  fields  of  edu- 
(,'alion,  through  all  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day.  Xobly  and  im- 
pressively does  it  teach  the  grand  moral  Icbsoii  that  we  labor  not  in 
vain,  when  we  labor  in  the  Lord  and  for  the  good  of  our  fellow-men. 
Let  us  not  be  weary  in  well-doing;  for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap, 
if  we  faint  not. 

"  Lives  of  great  nieu  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time  ; 

"  Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 
Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwrecked  brother. 
Seeing,  shall  take  heart  aerain." 


THE  L^^^^^^^MIA 
LOS  ANGl 


m, 


UCSOUTHERr,iit( 


